Dawnlight
by Princess Selina
Summary: "I wake them up and I have to watch it all happen; knowing I've ruined their lives." Lyra's life fell apart when she was signalled out as the guardian. Forced to awaken the scouts when the Negaverse strikes and left with no clues for her own connection to the past life, she attempts to ease the lives of the scouts, searching for answers but nothing's easy when it's all your call.
1. Guardian of Senshi

**Chapter One: Guardian of Senshi**

It was impossible not to notice the tall, elegant girl from where she sat, stubbornly ignoring the teacher while writing away furiously on a pad of paper. No one was sitting at the desks surrounding her, despite the fact that she clearly had an ideal spot. She was right near the windows, not too close to the front that she'd be right in the teacher's eye-line, or too far to the back that she'd be a target for extra supervision. In fact where she had placed herself was perfect positioning, leaving her constantly bathed in sunlight, yet the places in front, behind and to the side were all completely empty. Yet she didn't seem to either notice it, either that or she didn't care, seeming perfectly content where she was in the silent room. Scribbling away in her book, bathing in the sunlight that only further illuminated the golden-brown ringlets that shone brightly from where they were thrown in a hastily done high ponytail.

Her brow was furrowed in concentration as she tapped away with her foot against the table leg to a distinct tune, popping her small, pink lips on occasion to go with the song. Biting on the end of her pen habitually, with straight white teeth as she tried to figure out what came next in her composition. Seeming to have worked it out after a moment, her overlarge, sapphire eyes lighting up in realization, she dotted out some notes on the blank music bars imprinted on the paper. She seemed to be on a roll when all of a sudden, someone interrupted her thoughts.

'Miss Franklin,' barked a voice.

The girl made a face at the book before looking up innocently, 'Yes Miss Aristra?' she replied easily, like she hadn't been doing anything wrong in the slightest, her clear irratance at being interrupted displayed all too clearly.

Her math's teacher was far from buying the innocent act though as she snapped, 'What are you doing? I was explaining the equation necessary to do this unit, it's a new topic; you need to be paying attention-'

'So when were you getting around to explaining that the answer to that is- three hundred and sixty eight point nine four six,' she sighed leaning around the teacher to barely glance at the board before responding.

The teacher looked between her, the board, and then the sheet of paper with her answers scrawled on it, 'How did you...?'

'She's a bitchy know it all that's how,' drawled a voice from the other side of the room.

'Enough Mr. Brown,' the teacher insisted before turning back to the girl, 'Miss Franklin, you are a very bright girl, but your work ethic is what is letting you down. What are you even doing?' she said scooping the book off her table.

'Composing,' she said lightly, 'and why should I pay attention when I'm topping the class without having to listen to you ramble about things that we will never use?'

'This will be in your exam Miss Franklin.'

'Interesting, what could we use it for after the exam is over?' she sighed boredly and as the teacher struggled to respond she asked innocently, 'Well? Can't you think of anything?... No? Well then, I guess you can give me my book back.'

'I don't have to call your brother to discuss your attitude again, do I Miss Franklin?' the teacher growled through her teeth.

This was met by a long, exasperated sigh followed by a simple, 'No Miss Aristra, I'll pay attention for your sake.'

With a patronizing smile she pulled the book out of the teachers hand and sat up with mock attentiveness. But within five minutes she'd gone back to writing musical notes across her page. The teacher could only sigh and attempt to ignore her; the sounds of her scribbling away in her book, occasionally starting to tap out rhythms with her foot or pen against the table echoing through the otherwise silent classroom. But the moment the bell went, she was the first out the door, physically shoving the other students out the way, and continuing to force a path through the masses until she got out of the school gates.

She looked around for a few seconds and almost instantly was met with a call of, 'Lyra!'

A man stood nearby, around twenty, just over six feet tall and seeing as he was the only one who'd noticed her, it was clear he was the one to call out to her. He was slim with definite muscles and broad shoulders. His strong jaw, straight nose, thin mouth and ocean blue eyes making up his rather strikingly attractive face. He seemed pretty dark in persona in general, which seemed to match the sunglasses sticking out of his pocket, the aura of grim humor almost radiating from him. Yet at the same time he was smiling easily at the girl, which somehow changing him from stern and imposing, to handsome and carefree by something as simple as the smile that lit up his face.

A beam crossed the girl's expression as she turned and ran to hug the elder boy, 'Darien,' she giggled into his chest, before looking up at him smirking, 'Class as painful as ever?'

'I had a mildly interesting lecture today as much of a shock that must be,' he replied chuckling softly, 'And now I've got fifteen minutes to get you home before work, so move it sis, I can't be late again, I'll get murdered and my boss hates me enough as it is.'

'Just to make it easier on you, we can go straight to your work and I'll just walk over to the crown, chill with Andrew for a while,' she smirked as she accepted the helmet he was holding out to her.

'Which I'm assuming is code for annoy him for an hour or two, while pinching free drinks and helping yourself to the food behind the counter? You practically live there, you might as well start paying board,' Darien retaliated, climbing onto the motorcycle.

She just laughed before jumping up behind him and noticing a group of other students staring at her, as per usual, with cruel leers lighting their expressions. Not seeming shaken in the slight she mock saluted them boredly slinging on her helmet, nudging Darien to let him know she was ready to go. He smiled at her softly; glad as per usual she wasn't letting the creeps at her school get to her like most teenagers would have. And hearing Lyra already clicking her tongue impatiently, he flipped down the visor on his helmet, cracked his neck and revved the engine, as they disappeared from the school parking lot.

…

It had been an hour or two since Darien had dropped Lyra off at the arcade, and she'd long run out of productive things to do. She'd done all of her homework begrudgingly, hinting it with as many shots at the teacher as possible, annoyed Andrew, tripped him three times, taken milkshakes off trays as the staff walked past and helped herself to food. And with all of that out of the way she was currently back to composing. She'd had a tune in her head that entire math's lesson and it had been driving her mad trying to figure out what the notes were, because it was a little hard to pinpoint. The fact she didn't even know what instrument was playing in her head was not making it any easier. She was singing the tune under her breath, adding some more notes to the page when she felt her phone vibrate against her hip; sighing to herself she fished it out of her pocket:

**M: My parents are freaking out over nothing again, I get home fifteen minutes late from when they expected and suddenly I must be doing drugs like the "little rebel" girls do. Just because I was giggling and jumpy when I get home does not mean I'm high. Thanks for the trust vote mum and dad.**

Lyra snorted with laughter as she read the e-mail, she knew her best friend back to front and really couldn't understand why her parents could have hit that conclusion over something this small. They should have known by now that their daughter had no concept of time. Besides anything that looked like she might be high to a stranger, was her typical sugar-rushed state. One drop of caffeine or sugar, and she'd be starting a sing-a-long with strangers on the bus ride home.

She'd been living in England for the last year and a half, and despite the fact Lyra had barely known her before she'd left, they'd started talking to each other online though. And somehow, they'd grown closer with each other than they were with anyone else. They would often end up staying up to ungodly hours e-mailing each other and skyping constantly because the time zones weren't exactly corresponding with one another. Not that they minded too much about the loss of sleep, it just made it obvious how much it meant to be able to talk to each other.

She went to reply to her e-mail, a smirk coming to her face, when suddenly she felt someone standing over her, and she looked up boredly, meeting the extremely dark eyes of Toby Brown which glinted with detest as he loomed over her as per usual, 'Got a problem Nudnik?'

'Just observing the beast in her natural habitat,' he growled softly.

Lyra suppressed an eye roll and a sigh, Toby was the golden boy at Shiba Kōen, he was that one guy who couldn't do anything wrong. He had this effortlessly messy, yet somehow styled black hair, that all of the guys in the school tried to recreate and failed. He was tall, well-muscled with a signature charm smile that could get him out of any situation so he never got pulled up on his ritual mistreatment and bullying of other students. He was smart, athletic, artistic, rich and good looking, so he ticked the boxes on every girl's wish list and he knew it all too well. He only seemed to have one little problem in his life. A problem which he would constantly try and fail to eradicate. And that problem was Lyra.

She blinked up at him, completely unfazed by his attempt to intimidate her, already bored by the situation, 'Wow, come up with that one all by yourself huh? Or is it something you heard from the animal planet crew when they were filming you and your girlfriend's morning make out session in your car? Something so obscene and animalistic clearly belongs on the discovery channel,' she drawled in response.

He glared at her, intense hatred burning in his eyes; one thing that he hated about her more than anything else, was no matter how witty or smart an insult he threw at her, she always had response that would trump his. And it didn't have to take a second for her to think of it. She was the girl who said what everyone else was thinking but would have never had the guts to say. She was the one who said in the right moment, all the things you would have thought of _after _the argument was over. That was the only real way to describe Lyra, and that made her a pain in the ass to Toby.

'What do you want Nudnik?' Lyra sighed again as he glared at her, habitually slipping into her usual mocking name for him.

'Nothing,' he said bluntly and turned back to the booth which was overflowing with his friends.

'I thought you were going to make her to move so we can have another booth,' said the nasally whine of his girlfriend Rose.

Toby's response was quiet and relaxed, 'Relax babe, don't worry about it, like we want something that she's contaminated,' he said with a smarmy grin, before kissing Rose passionately.

Lyra rolled her eyes, making a retching sound, why did he have to insist on so much PDA, it was disgusting. He'd had at least six other girlfriends that were the exact same as this current one. They were all either dancers or cheerleaders whose emotions could be controlled by jewelry. The bitchy, slutty, petty, superior, needy, snobby gold-digger thing seemed to be a reoccurring factor that came almost like a brand name with them. Each during their time dating Toby would gain a taste for targeting Lyra and kept it even after they eventually broke up. So Lyra had now ended up with a whole group of people whose existences were seemingly dedicated to tormenting her.

Lyra had arrived at Shiba Kōen two and a half years ago, and the moment she arrived somehow she and Toby had ended up at each other's throats. The fact that the moment she'd shown up, the first thing she'd done was correct him, did not help this in the slightest. The one thing that they were more ultra-competitive than anything else was debating. Each year the school would hold a debating competition, and both of them would enter purely to try to one up the other. She'd won all three competitions, though one of them purely because she'd gotten so annoyed at him she'd knocked him out. He wasn't conscious so he couldn't accept the award, thus she'd won by default.

She smirked slightly at the memory before turning back to her phone and e-mailing one of the very few people that she considered worth her time:

**L: Oh honey, when will they learn? Seriously, they moved away practically due to your request to get you away from the bastards at school who no doubt do that sort of stuff.**

The response from her friend was almost instant and annoyingly knowing:

**M: They probably won't get it for a long time… You just had another run in with Toby? Didn't you? I can practically feel you fuming from here.**

Lyra rolled her eyes and wrote out a few more notes onto the page, her ringtone having reminding her of the tune, before she replied:

**L: Still don't know how you can always tell. And don't judge me for being pissed after talking to him. You're the one who used to be his best friend hun, you know how much of a bastard he can be, and I'm his favorite target remember?**

She knew she would have shut her up for now, and turned to go back to her composition, barely picking up the book before she met with someone putting two cans of drink down on her table, 'Break time,' Andrew laughed sitting down across from her.

'You get breaks? I thought they couldn't keep the place standing for longer than two minutes without you fussing over every last detail,' she said with a pestering smirk lighting her face.

'I know, I've been sitting down for a whole ten seconds and there hasn't been a fire yet!' Andrew exclaimed jokingly, making both of them laugh.

She'd known Andrew for years, he was Darien's best friend after all, and although Darien was in college now, Andrew hadn't gone. Insisting that he would prefer to work in the family arcade/café till he had enough money to not juggle both when he eventually figured out what he wanted to do. He treated her just as much of a little sister as Darien did, well ever since she forced him to ask out his now steady girlfriend Rita. His sister Lizzie was the same age as Lyra as well as being one of her few friends, which made for a lot of fun when both pairs of siblings ended up playing cards for hours at a time. It wasn't hard for him to guess what was on Lyra's mind though now that they weren't playing poker, as he could see the furrow of irritation in her brows.

'Those little creeps annoying you again Lyra? I could kick them out if you wanted me to,' he offered.

'You'd need a lot more meat on your bones to accomplish that one Andrew,' she replied teasingly.

Andrew faked offense, sighing as he gripping her hand gently for comfort before tapping her book to see if he could have a look, and when she nodded he slid it across the table and started looking at the piece, '…This is pretty elaborate Lyra, using it for your half yearly?'

'Na, probably not. That's ages away; I just had it in my head and needed to get it down on paper before I forgot it. Still haven't entirely figure out instruments this would be in… or the tempo. Guess it's kind of a bit random at the moment.'

Andrew just laughed, shaking his head at her. He'd done music through high school, and had gotten pretty high marks for it. Darien had done drama despite being in a firm "I don't talk to people" phase through most of his schooling life. Their friendship had started when they'd been forced to collaborate on the school's musical. Dealing with the superficial snobs had made them vent to each other, which along the way turned them into pretty great friends.

'Instruments and tempo are missing huh? The things of common folk are all irrelevancies to your genius aren't they?' he grinned, 'Still don't know how you do it, I had to compose things in high school, but I definitely couldn't do anything to this extent.'

She smiled at him before saying mockingly, 'Well you're not the protégée now are you?' Andrew laughed, knowing she was joking, and they continued to tease each other back and forth for several moments.

Though all of a sudden a strange feeling swept over Lyra, like someone had turned the lights out suddenly, 'Lyra… are you okay? You've gone a bit pale,' Andrew asked in concern, but his voice sounded very far away.

She choked on air, as weird gold pulses swept through her vision, she gripped the table hard, panicking as she heard Andrew's cry of alarm, 'Lyra!?'

But she couldn't respond, she had to get out of there, she never knew what was going to happen when it started, and it usually wasn't good. She blindly fumbled her way into the bathroom, trying to block it off for just long enough for her to hide in a stall, somehow she managed to get in and lock the door before she completely collapsed on the floor. She was leaning against the wall, back aching as all of a sudden the vision took over, in a voice so booming and loud that it nearly made her brain explode:

**_Tonight. It shall begin Lyrana._**

She vaguely could feel her internal-self protesting, as she flailed on the ground like she was having a seizure, unable to stop herself from spasming.

**_The Negaverse shall attack on that night. Tonight Lyrana._**

She gave a scream of anguish, the pain too much as she knew she must have been ramming continuously against the walls of the cubicle, unable to control her thrashing.

**_You must find them Lyrana. You must find them. Find them or let the world be forever obliterated. The choice is yours. The warrior of the moon is approaching, it is time._**

She screamed one last time, as the noise rang through her head, making her feel like she was about to vomit and internally combust. She screeched in pain, curling into a little ball, knowing that the vision was over, but having no idea what she could do, tears in her eyes as she shakily forced herself to breathe.

'Lyra, Lyra!'

'Shut up,' she hissed through her teeth.

'Come on, open your eyes, relax, it's all okay, let me look at you,' came the voice again, but in a quiet, soothing tone.

She vaguely opened her eyes and realized she wasn't in a stall anymore; in fact she was in the middle of the crown's bathroom floor which she felt a surge of relief realizing that it was at least kept pretty clean. But that was when she noticed that there were chunks of wood all around her, and she realized that no one had pulled her out of the stall; she'd broken through the door while flailing around. She could see girls surrounding her, and boys' craning their necks to see what was going on from the bathroom door, and she realized then and there how much of a scene she'd just made.

'Um...' she said hesitantly.

'Lyra, look at me,' she turned realizing that Andrew was crouching there, looking over her, the concern lighting his face in the extreme, 'Are you okay? What happened?'

She looked at him, and realized that if she shook it off like she usually did, she would seem like she'd done this all for attention, and that she wasn't going to let happen, 'I-I... I don't know... I...' she trailed off and let some of the stray tears that had built up because the pain she'd managed to cause herself.

Andrew's face grew heavier in concern, and he looked around to the bunch of school kids at the door, 'Someone run down the road and go get her brother from the music store round the corner, ask for Darien, please, she needs him.'

Lyra didn't even bother to see who went, but she could hear someone running off, as she pulled her knees up to her chest and buried her face in them, not wanting to meet the eyes of those surrounding her. Before lightly reaching up to touch her forehead, suddenly relieved for the way she grew her fringe, knowing that without it, everyone would have seen the way the symbol would have been glowing on her forehead. After a few minutes, she looked up and saw that Andrew was still fussing over her like a mother hen, and that everyone was still staring at her.

'Sorry about the door Andrew,' she murmured.

Andrew gave a weak laugh of relief before saying, 'it's okay Lyra, now come on, are you hurt?'

'Few scratches, bruises, there's nothing to be worry about,' she said through her teeth, as she looked at the cuts on her arms, knowing how horrible it looked.

'Are you sure? You did hit your head pretty hard, and you did have a fit. You need to go see a doctor, get yourself tested for-'

'I'm okay Andrew, really, relax, just… just make them stop staring at me,' she said awkwardly, knowing that this wasn't any medical problem.

'Okay everyone, give her some space-' Andrew began before suddenly charging through the door came one person no one would ever expect to see in the girl's bathroom, or in such a heavily frantic state.

'Lyra, what happened? Are you okay? What do you-?' Darien exclaimed.

'Calm down smother hen,' she said shoving him away weakly.

'We are taking you to a doctor right now,' he insisted.

'I'm fine-'

'You had a seizure Lyra, you are not fine,' Andrew insisted.

'Wait what?!' Darien demanded.

'Don't yell,' Lyra groaned hands over her ears, 'Just take me home.'

'Okay, okay,' Darien said gently before pulling the younger girl to her feet, cradling her under one arm slightly, before noticing the people still blocking the door and barking cruelly, 'Move out of our way half-wits, now!'

'Darien,' she groaned burying her head into his chest, 'Stop yelling.'

'Sorry lil one, now let's get you out of here.'

…

'Hey Andy, just thought I'd give you an update on what's going on, before your head explodes,' Darien said as his friend answered his call.

**'My head or yours?**'

Darien rolled his eyes, unimpressed with his friends comment before saying, 'Do you want to know what's happening or not?'

**'Go straight ahead mother hen.'**

'Shut up, she's the only family I have,' he laughed into the phone-line, 'I just took her to the local GP, he's giving her a check over now, but she wouldn't let me come in with her. Especially seeing as I forgot to bring that weird card thing that proves I'm her legal guardian.'

**'Waiting outside freaking yourself out huh? How's she feeling?'**

'You know Lyra, she's decided she's fine and no one can convince her otherwise,' Darien sighed impatiently, 'You could tell her she's terminal and she'd still insist it's a mild cold.'

**'You turn into a wimp when you get sick so I guess someone has to be able to handle a sniffle or two.'**

'Shut up Andrew-'Darien began, but that was when he felt something hit him on the head, 'I'll call you back.

He hung up the phone and scooped up the crumpled piece of paper from the ground, even as he noticed someone else running over, clearly having been the one to throw it. He scanned the paper and before the girl had even reached him he looked up with his most intimidating smirk on his face and said:

'A thirty huh? Admirable,' and before the girl could respond he tilted down his sunglasses to examine her and said, 'So are you stupid or just incredibly lazy?'

The short, petite girl stared up at him, anger spreading across her flushed face, 'Who asked your opinion jerk,' she snapped, snatching the paper from his hand.

He examined the girl boredly, and despite his general distaste he was already feeling towards her, even he had to admit she was remarkably pretty. Impossibly long blonde hair tied up in odangos, crystal blue eyes and a pretty face even when rippling with anger. She couldn't be much older than Lyra, around sixteen. Though despite the air of innocence that seemed to waft in a halo around her, he just felt compelled to insult her, and he was in a bad enough mood to ignore his better nature.

'Calm your farm meatball head, why snap at me for making one comment when I'm sure your teacher does enough lecturing of her own on such a slug-brained student,' he shrugged insulting her calmly but mercilessly.

The younger girl looked offended and ready to do something drastic when all of a sudden a familiar voice spoke up, 'Darien, being worried about me does not give you permission to take it out on a stranger.'

Darien turned to face her, relief flooding through his system as he saw Lyra standing against the door looking somewhere between amused and exasperated, 'Lyra-'

'Ah-ah, no talking,' she said to him forcefully, pushing him away before turning to the girl, 'Sorry about my brother, are you okay?'

'It's fine… he's probably right about the grade anyway,' she said eyes welling up with tears which made Darien take at least six steps backwards not liking the look of this situation, 'Mum is going to murder me-'

Seeing the impending tantrum, Lyra intervened hastily, 'Sweetie, sweetie calm down, one failed test is nothing to worry about. Just put in the work and you'll do better next time.'

The girl brightened for a second as Lyra touched her shoulder in comfort gently, but even as the girl seemed to realize something and get more upset, Lyra's expression changed. A surprised look was crossing its way through her features as she noticed that spinning its way around her hand, invisible to anyone else, was a spinning twine of silver light. Lyra drew back her hand hastily, which would have been suspicious under any other circumstances except for it was exactly that moment the girl suddenly burst into heavy, wailing tears as she cried out:

'It's not just this test, it's all of them!' she exclaimed.

'Um… Okay, hey, come on, you need sugar,' Lyra said dragging her towards a café on the corner, lacking all tact and delicacy, but still feeling the need to handle the situation.

'Lyra, we don't know her, where are you going?-'Darien yelled.

'You made her cry now I have to deal with the consequences!'

…

'…Are you sure you don't want me to pay you back for this?' the girl asked hesitantly, sipping on the milkshake Lyra had bought her.

'I'm sure,' Lyra said bluntly, picking at the pastry she'd brought herself.

'…Do you want to invite your brother inside? He's been there for half an hour now.'

'I told him to go home, it's his own damn fault if he wants to linger around,' Lyra snorted.

'… Would you-'

'Let it go honey, seriously, being nice to strangers is practically my specialty, knowing them properly is generally what ruins them for me,' Lyra sighed, '…But I wouldn't mind knowing your name, I'm Lyrana Franklin, but I tend to go by Lyra. Your turn sweetie.'

'Oh right, I'm Serena Tsukino… I'm sorry I've been such a bother.'

Lyra was still laughing internally off hearing the name even as she assured her, 'It's not a bother at all Serena, really, my brother can be a bit of an asshole; I'm used to this sort of thing. Besides I can understand the pressure to succeed-'

'Wait a second, that uniform, you go to that school only millionaires can afford!' Serena blabbed out completely cutting across her.

'The reputation of Shiba Kōen does sort of supersede itself, I'm not loaded Serena, really, I'm there on scholarship. They bring in a bunch of kids every year to up the school's average, and so that they get bragging rights if we end up successful,' Lyra explained hastily, hating how everyone assumed she was rich just off her uniform.

'So you're one of the brainiacs they call in!?' Serena asked in surprise.

'I guess,' Lyra shrugged but knew she couldn't leave it at that, she was supposed to be trying to making her feel better, but before she could say anything, Serena asked her something else.

'Then what do you mean about understanding pressure to succeed? You're _a genius_, why would _you_ be under pressure?' Serena asked shyly.

Lyra hesitated before coming up with something, 'Well, I'm one definition for smart, and I know I need to grow in other ways. Here, look at this.'

Lyra stretched out her arm, where a thick bangle was clamped around her wrist. It was two lines of gold with a sun keeping them at a set distance from another, planets stretched out from it, slight engravings into them to match the surface of each planet, there was even a tiny moon circling the earth, and a ring around Saturn. They were all made out of gold except the one clearly made to represent Venus, which was a deep orange-yellow amber instead, forcing the attention to it.

Serena was fascinated as she stared at it, clearly intrigued, 'Wow, that's amazing, where did you get this?'

'Family heirloom,' Lyra lied easily, it was her constant cover story for it as she wasn't capable of removing it, 'But think about something for me, why is it considered valuable?'

'It's gold, of course it's valuable!' Serena exclaimed, not understanding the point.

'But why is gold valuable?' Lyra asked simply.

Serena's brow furrowed, 'I don't know what you mean, gold is so rare and-'

'It really isn't that rare, it's valuable because society has deemed it precious. In Ancient China they thought jade was far more valuable. What about countries where gold isn't found or was never dug up until last century? Clearly they thought something was valuable until society came to an agreement that gold was a precious metal,' Lyra said easily, smiling at her.

Serena looked confused still, 'Ah…'

'Society has deemed gold is precious. Just like they have deemed what I know as intelligence,' Lyra explained, but at Serena's look of uncertainty, she continued, 'You see, I have what's called an advanced eidetic memory, anything I read, hear, smell, see, I'll remember it, which is why I can do so well without trying when it comes to school work. I know exactly what the answer is. But that doesn't mean that I understand it on the same level that someone like you would. I mean when I saw your expression just before we came here, I recognized it as you being upset. On the other hand if you'd seen the expression on my face, or on one of your friends faces, you'd jump straight to why and try to figure out how to make them feel better, you wouldn't need to process the idea of "upset" first.'

Serena nodded vaguely, seeming to understand, 'I think I know what you're getting at…' she said awkwardly.

'I feel like sometimes this country, this society, puts far too much emphasis on book smarts. Creativity, street smarts, strategy, outside of the box thinking, people smarts; it all seems to be valued less, so they've decided which intelligence is valuable to them. That doesn't mean you're not smart, it means that you just have other talents, and you have to figure out how to play them to your own advantage,' Lyra said gently.

'Okay… Yeah, I think I get it, I mean, I may be useless at math, but the moment that someone is upset I know how to fix it, I may not be able to handle exam conditions, but I could tell you exactly where to find the best doughnuts or sweets in the city,' Serena said slowly, not sure how it was a good thing.

'Exactly, and I'm sure the doughnut trick helps you a lot, you know how to have a better relationship with people, but unfortunately the schooling system, they can't test that, but that doesn't mean you're any less smart,' Lyra said soothingly, seeming to have been relieved she'd helped her.

'Thank you… that makes me feel… a lot better, I mean it's not going to help mum's reaction when she sees this grade, but at least I don't have to feel like an idiot about it,' Serena smiled.

'Exactly, and you know what…' Lyra hesitated dramatically, to lead up to what had been her entire intention of bringing her in here, making sure Serena stayed in regular contact with her, which would give Lyra the excuse to keep an eye on her, 'Why don't you tell your mother that you aren't going to have problems with this anymore? You've sorted it out yourself; I can make sure that you do some studying, rather than procrastinating the entire time.'

'Who said that I procrastinate-!' Serena began but she saw the smirk on Lyra' face and said, 'Okay, I just admitted it… So how would you make sure I study?'

'Simple, I'll tutor you,' Lyra said simply.

'…You'd do that?'

'Yes.'

'Willingly?'

'Yes.'

'I don't have to bribe you?'

'No.'

'Are you sure?'

'Yes! Seriously, pay me in food, I'll be one happy chappy,' Lyra shrugged, 'besides, it'll be fun. So what do you say?'

'Well okay then!' Serena said cheerfully, 'That would be great!'

'Here,' Lyra laughed before pulling a pen out of her pocket, and scribbling a string of numbers on her hand, 'Call me when you need some help. Now unfortunately, I've got to get going, can't leave Darien standing out there for much longer before he wonders off like a lost toddler.'

'Thanks so much Lyra, this means a lot to me,' Serena said sincerely.

'No problem sweetie, I'll see you around,' Lyra smiled, before putting down some money on the bill, and walking out, waving absent mindedly.

The moment Lyra got out of the café, Darien rushed to her instantly, 'What the hell was that?'

'I was trying to be nice,' Lyra said, raising an eyebrow, taking her satchel bag off him, tossing it over her shoulder.

'You? Since when? The only people your nice to without some kind of ulterior motive are small children- oh wait that explains it!' Darien exclaimed.

Lyra rolled her eyes heavily, 'She's in my grade Darien.'

'Doesn't mean she isn't childish-'

'Just because she hasn't had twisted things happen to her like you and me doesn't make her an unworthy fool,' Lyra snapped, 'she's nice enough-'

'And I'm sure plenty of people at your school are but you hate them all.'

Lyra turned to glare at her older brother, before saying sourly, 'Listen here Darien. I don't have many friends, no one at that school talks to me because they're rich, insufferable bitches and bastards who only think about themselves, hierarchy and what everyone else seems to think about them. I don't have many friends; I have two that are my own age, and one's not even in the country.'

'You have Lizzie-'

'I know that! But that's one person, you know what, stop questioning me; I don't need to explain trying to be human to an alien like you!' Lyra snapped forcefully, 'Really, I should be questioning you why you're so compelled to insult her, aren't _you_ the one who's usually trying to stop _me_ doing that kind of thing?'

Darien gritted his teeth before changing the subject, knowing he'd lost this argument, 'What did the doctor say?'

'About what?'

'You had a seizure!' he exclaimed.

'It's nothing,' Lyra lied effortlessly, but she felt bad about having to do so, 'Look, I used to get stress induced epilepsy when I was a kid, he just told me to take it easy and if it happens again to come back, it's nothing to worry about.'

'Epilepsy… and you never mentioned this?!' he demanded.

'Didn't seem relevant, haven't had one in about three years,' Lyra sighed, still lying, wondering why it was just so easy for her to lie to the only family she had.

'Any other medical conditions you want to mention?' Darien responded clearly aggravated.

'Sort of, if I use the wrong shampoo my hair just turns into straw and-'

'Okay! That is enough!' Darien groaned.

'Thought so,' Lyra laughed, flicking through her bag, rolling her eyes, knowing that the moment she talked about something girly he'd stop listening, 'Dar... Where's my composition book?' she questioned.

'Oh ah... I must have left it at the crown... heh heh...'

'You. Did. WHAT!?'

* * *

**This is the official reboot of my first fanfiction, Dawnlight, which I decided to give a big polish, redo parts of the storyline and upload once more with the quality writing ability I am capable of producing now. So readers both old and new, give me your feedback, let me know of what you think of my original characters, how I'm portraying characters from the original series, and anything you find interesting or note worthy in the unfolding chapters.**

**xxo**

**Princess Selina**


	2. Awakening

**Chapter Two: Awakening**

Through the door of the smaller bedroom in his apartment, Darien could hear a constant stream of giggles and chatter as he went around scooping up some of the things Lyra had left lying around. He may have been a meticulous neat freak but Lyra didn't seem to have the same gene in her system. Darien could only assume, as yet another explosive burst of laughter vibrated through the apartment, that Lyra was on Skype with her friend from England. Darien had never met her in person; she'd already left the country when she and Lyra had become close. Darien just talked to her every now and then when she and Lyra were video chatting. He'd always couldn't help but notice how much happier Lyra seemed to be when she knew that she was going to get a call from Mina. It just made her feel like she had someone, someone who could properly understand everything on her mind, because even Darien sometimes felt lost trying to keep up with her. It was probably a girl thing.

He picked up Lyra's school shoes which she'd chucked near her bedroom door, and went to take them into her room, but he for a moment waited to make sure he wasn't interrupting a private conversation, listening for a second as he heard the strange Japanese cross English accent of Mina, 'I still can't believe he's dating her, for god's sake, does he have to date the skankiest girls in the entire city?'

'For crying out loud Mina, it's been about a month, besides it's not that surprising; all of his girlfriends are practically clones of each other. I'm just wondering how his dad is some sort of billionaire business genius. It clearly doesn't run in the family. He's just paying for what everyone else is getting for free when it comes to those girls,' he heard Lyra reply, knowing all too well who they were talking about, Mina liked keeping tabs on her former best friend, 'Now can we talk about something else, even mentioning that jerk gives me hives. He's the most self-absorbed, stuck up, rich bastard on the planet.'

'Okay, okay, relax Lyra,' Mina was laughing, '...So how many insults to Mr Rodriguez did you manage to include in your history homework today?'

'Twenty six, I counted,' he said, walking in the door before putting Lyra's shoes back in her cupboard, and handing her the essay that he'd corrected her spelling and grammar on, 'You really need to start paying attention to spell check Lyra.'

He could hear Mina's laughter radiating from the screen, waving briefly at Mina who was grinning at him. She was sitting far back enough at her desk that it was clear just how long her straight, ash blonde hair was, he was used to seeing it pulled back by a bright red bow, but it was missing today for some reason. Her eyes were a bright ultramarine blue, outlined with dark lashes with minimal but carefully done amounts of makeup surrounding them. Her skin had managed to keep a healthy glow to it, tanned lightly from the amount of sun she'd managed to get despite the cloudiness of the English summer she was going through. She was always doing this thing where she somehow managed to look effortlessly happy at all times, perfect teeth, dimples and a good natured air that just seemed to radiate from her.

'I speak eight languages, spell check only checks one at a time, clearly I am above such a measly device,' Lyra smirked, 'Besides you were the one who complained that you couldn't help me with my homework, I gave you something to do.'

Mina laughed even as Darien pulled a face at his little sister, 'I can't believe Mr Rodriguez still hasn't read one of your essays for the last what, year? He gives them out every lesson, and gives you top marks every time.'

'He doesn't think there's a point, I mean really, I'm his best student, as long as my test marks don't slip he's just going to keep reading the first paragraph and give me an A for it, last week I started to ramble about lemon lime solo half way through it and I got a ninety seven, so much for the best teachers in Japan provided for the students of Shiba Kōen.'

'Alis grave nil,' Mina quoted mockingly, making both girls laugh.

Darien was confused though, assuming it was a piece of English he didn't understand, as both girls seemed to slip flawlessly between the two, leaving him confused, 'What?'

'Our school's motto, it's Latin for "nothing is too heavy for those who have wings," more like nothing is too hard for those who can buy their way through life,' Lyra snorted, her clear disdain towards the wealth their school bragged about all too clear, 'Surely you must have heard them quoting it at every freaking assembly, showcase and all the other crap they make the families come to.'

'I was supposed to stay awake in those things?' Darien asked raising an eyebrow, organizing some of the paper strewn across Lyra's desk, clicking his tongue in annoyance.

'Hey OCD, stop fiddling with my stuff, I like it where it is!' Lyra protested.

'How can you like it? I mean, you can't honestly be able to find anything in this mess, when was the last time you organized-'Darien tried.

'I'll know where less of it is after you mess with it! It is organized chaos!' Lyra snapped in retaliation, 'Leave it alone!'

Darien made a face and continued regardless even as Lyra turned back to her computer screen, groaning slightly at her brother's antics, 'Remind me again what time it is there?'

'Nearly time for school last time I checked, but I'm stalling,' Mina sighed irritably, 'luckily it's a Friday and we can talk more this afternoon.'

'Or ridiculously early here,' Lyra giggled, 'so where's the kitty?'

'Out hunting, he's gotten a taste for squirrel over the last few weeks,' Mina said jittering, 'At least he stopped bringing them inside.'

'I still can't believe you named a boy cat after a Greek _Goddess_,' Darien interjected, who was still sorting Lyra's stuff.

'It was the only name he responded to,' Mina insisted, 'besides what else am I supposed to call the little moonshine?'

'I don't know, surely there must be a moon god with an appropriate name,' Darien insisted.

'Of course there is, but their names are either boring or completely unpronounceable,' Mina insisted stubbornly, tossing back fringe with clear defiance.

'I still think you should have gone with Fati,' Lyra interjected.

The three started laughing, but stopped as Lyra's phone rang, 'Sorry Mina, gonna have to take this call, just one sec,' she said flipping open her phone, 'Hello?'

**'Lyra?'**

'Yeah… is that you Serena?' Lyra asked.

**'Yeah, sorry to call but… I ah…'**

'Is something wrong sweetie? Your voice sounds kinda choky?' Lyra asked, 'What happened?'

**'It's just… I had to show mum the grade, and then… and then… well… she wouldn't believe me when I said I'd found a tutor… and she… she,'** Serena broke into tears at this point, her wails all too clear even as she was clearly holding the phone away from her mouth.

'Oh honey, please, just calm down for a moment, there's nothing to worry about, it's all going to be okay. I can come over at some stage, and I'll just meet your mother then, that way she'll believe you,' Lyra spoke sympathetically, 'There's nothing to worry about at all, deep breaths.'

**'But… she's already grounded me and… How does she expect me to get better if I can't even meet with my tutor!'** more wailing ensued at this point.

Lyra sighed deeply before saying, 'You know sweetie, if it's really that big of a deal I could swing by tonight. Drop off some notes, pretend I have no idea what you're talking about when you mention you're grounded? If they realize you weren't lying they'll appreciate the initiative and they'll forget all about grounding you.'

**'You… you'd do that?'** Serena's voice sounded stunned.

'Sure, why not? I don't have plans tonight or anything so it wouldn't be too much of a big deal,' Lyra acknowledged, having a feeling Serena needed this way more than she was letting on.

**'I don't want to be a bother or anything…' **Serena tried weakly.

'No, no it's okay, just text me your address and I'll be there as soon as I can,' Lyra replied calmly, 'I'll cya soon.'

Lyra hung up leaving Darien looking at her weirdly, 'What were you talking to meatball head for?'

'Stop calling her that Darien,' Lyra fired back, 'I'm going round to her house tonight so I guess you're just going to have to fend for yourself food wise.'

'You're going around to her place? What for?' Darien said before realizing something, '…Wait, me cooking? Haven't we already learnt that's a really bad idea?'

'Who are we talking about?' Mina asked, still confused.

'I agreed to tutor a girl from Juuban Junior, Darien reduced her to tears on the sidewalk so I had to fix it,' Lyra explained, before shooting a glare in her brother's direction, 'God you're such a little shit Dar.'

'You're tutoring her now?!' Darien interjected, 'Why didn't you mention that?'

'How do you think I stopped the crying, who knows with a little effort I could turn her into your perfect future wife, she is a pretty little thing after all, and she is really the sweetest person on the planet-'

'Enough! Lyra; seriously, what is with you?!' Darien snapped angrily.

'What does she look like?' Mina asked beaming, 'I will start planning the wedding immediately.'

'You know the Odango thing you tried to do to your hair?' Lyra smirked, prepared to paint an image with words.

'Yeah, it was barely long enough to have ponytails past my shoulder, it didn't work too well,' Mina beamed, seeming to anticipate what was coming.

'She's got them and they go all the way down to her hips, I mean it's kind of ridiculous, bright blonde odangos that long!'

'How long is her freaking hair!?' Mina exclaimed, becoming excited.

'I know right, I mean she's definitely not tall, but still!'

'How short are we talking here?' Mina giggled.

'I'd be surprised if she was quite five foot,' Lyra laughed.

'You're what? Borderline six? She must look tiny compared to you!'

'Cut it out Mina!' Lyra groaned irritably, being five foot eleven girl when she wasn't even sixteen for another few weeks wasn't quite the easiest experience in a country only just adapting to height.

'MINA AINO! IT'S NEARLY TEN O' CLOCK! WHY ON EARTH ARE YOU STILL HOME?!'

'…What?' Mina whispered; Darien and Lyra could hear Mrs. Amor despite the distance from the microphone.

'Run for it Mina,' Lyra smirked, laughing loudly, this having happened half a million times when they were talking.

'Bye,' Mina yelped slamming the laptop screen closed, she hadn't even bothered turning off the connection, Mina's lack of a concept of time was a source of constant hilarity.

'Typical Mina,' Lyra laughed, 'now big brother, I've got to get to… this address, Serena just texted it to me.'

'Why are you helping her?'

'You'll find out eventually, besides what's wrong with helping someone who clearly needs it,' Lyra smirked, 'Cya Darien, I won't be out too late.'

…

Serena had her head hung low, as her father, now home from work paced back and forth in the living room, lecturing her. Her mother had told her father about the grade and he was now taking his turn at lecturing her mercilessly about her marks. They spent so much time yelling at her, that they never actually taught her how to improve her work ethic or studying habits, they just raged and raged and raged.

'I have never met a more insolent, lazy girl! Thirty percent on a test that goes towards your final mark?! It would be a miracle if you managed to pass anything at all at the rate you're going Serena! Sure you _claim _to have studied with Melvin last night but with the way that boy worships you, though I can't comprehend why he does, he would have said anything you told him to say! I raised you to do better than this slop of an effort you're putting in! Your brother Sammy is acing all of his classes and yet you are incapable of doing anything right at all!' he paused slightly as the doorbell rang out; he stopped and focused his yelling towards the kitchen, 'Ikuko! Could you get that?! Now as I was saying you ungrateful little brat-'

Serena just kept her head down as he continued to lecture, this was a usual scene, there wasn't anything she could do to stop this, but that was when her mother came round the corner, with another teenager at her side, and several inches above her, 'Serena, who is this?' her mother asked, 'She said she's here to see you.'

Serena could already see her mother eying the uniform with clear judgment, 'Mum, this is-'she began.

'Lyrana Franklin, I did try to tell you at the door Mrs. Tsukino,' Lyra offered easily, before offering her hand to her father, 'Mr. Tsukino, nice to meet you sir, I'm Serena's tutor.'

'What?!' both parents said in surprise.

'You weren't lying about having found a tutor?' Mrs. Tsukino said awkwardly.

'Why would she lie about that?' Lyra asked, smiling sweetly, 'I was just bringing some of my notes for Serena to look over.'

'You were?' Serena's father asked seeming alarmed, knowing undoubtedly that Lyra must have heard part of his rant.

'Yes, I was looking over Serena's math book and I found that her teachers are using a few over-complicated methods, so I figured I'd help her learn a few methods that will make it _way_ less painful to work with,' Lyra covered easily, sending a smirk in Serena's direction.

'Thanks Lyra,' Serena said getting up hastily, 'We can go study in my room if you've got time.'

'Sure thing sweetie, let's go, it was nice meeting you two,' Lyra beamed, and walked after Serena, ponytail swinging, leaving the ringlets bouncing as she practically skipped up the stairs.

As soon as they were out of earshot, Serena sighed deeply, 'Thanks so much for coming Lyra, My dad is just-'

'It's okay Serena, your parents seem pretty intense, I can see why you needed this, that was some tirade your father was on,' Lyra said with a weak smile.

'That's pretty much business as usual for Dad,' Serena said quietly, 'I'm sorry to be so much trouble but-'

'It's all okay, really.'

Serena hugged Lyra at this point, leaving her surprised, awkwardly hugging her back, 'Thanks so much Lyra.'

Lyra still remained still, not sure what she was supposed to be doing, she'd never met somebody so huggy before, 'You don't need to thank me sweetie,' Serena released her and Lyra decided to say something to make sure that Serena would be a little less clingy, 'Now let's get to work.'

'We're actually going to study?' Serena asked in surprise.

'I'm not, you are, and I'm going to teach you how to do it,' Lyra smirked.

Serena groaned and trailed along to her room, 'Fine. This way Lyra.'

When Lyra entered Serena's room, she couldn't help but quirk an eyebrow at the scene before her. The entire room was decorated with posters of baby animals, video game characters and attractive male celebrities and models. Her bed was lined with stuffed animals, the book shelf lined with mostly romance novels and comic books. Serena really was the typical teenager. But that was when she noticed sitting on the window sill was a small black cat with large dark red eyes, but what made Lyra almost choke on her own tongue was the small, yellow, crescent moon on its forehead. Serena looked just as stunned to see it, crossing across the room to look at it.

'That's the cat from this morning,' Serena said in surprise, 'What are you doing here lil' kitty?'

'What?'

'Oh some little twerps were messing with this cat this morning, I chased them off, but then as I went to check on it, I heard the final bell go so I had to bolt,' Serena explained, still approaching the cat with caution, 'But I could have sworn it's been following me, I've kept seeing it today and now… how did it even get in here? The window wasn't open.'

'You sure about that?' Lyra asked curiously, trying not to sound sleuthy, but unable to resist it, she knew exactly why the cat was here, 'I mean really, it's not like it could have kitty magic.'

'Oh please with the amount of cartoons I watch it seems plausible enough,' Serena said before reaching out carefully and stroking the cat between its ears, making Lyra smirk, it would be easier for Serena to accept what was coming than for anyone else.

'But those are cartoons, this is real life,' Lyra reminded carefully, 'But still, you never know, what's with the thing on its head? I've heard of the man on the moon but not the cat from the moon,' she laughed.

The cat was giving her a strange look, almost alarmed, but Serena just laughed, 'It's probably just a sticker or something, either that or someone's got an owner who's really into cosplay.'

Lyra frowned, she knew she had to be careful, so that she could get away with triggering the possibilities without tipping her hand, 'Oh come on who would do that?' before she reached out and as lightly as she could she touched the centre of the crescent mark, 'Wow that's real fur, someone must be nuts.'

Serena was so distracted she didn't notice the mark light up on cat's forehead; she was too busy trying to think of what this could be a reference to, because all she could think was it was vaguely familiar. Sighing to herself, she shrugged, not even particularly realizing that when the cat yowled slightly, that it was because at the same moment, an identical crescent mark had flared in silver light from Serena's forehead. It had only been for a split second, but this wise, old cat had noticed it.

'Maybe you should just keep it Serena, clearly it likes you,' Lyra said carefully, noticing the lack of observational skills Serena clearly possessed.

'It wouldn't be right,' Serena smiled, 'whether it's a cutie or not.'

'Wow, you're a much better person than I am, seriously, just take it to a vet at some stage, get it scanned for a microchip, chances are if it doesn't have a collar, it isn't chipped and that way you can keep it,' Lyra grinned, noticing the cat was giving both Lyra and Serena very strange looks.

'Well if you've got everything figured out, then what would I call this thing?' Serena laughed, not expecting that Lyra would have an answer.

'Luna what else?'

The cat seemed to give a massive intake of breath, nearly seeming to gape at Lyra, Serena looked at the cat strangely, 'Wow, if cats could talk, this one would be saying "how do you know my name," it's perfect,' Serena laughed.

'Well we've been distracted by that enough, it can stay if it wants to, but we need to start studying before your parents come up,' Lyra sighed, pulling out a stack of papers and a text book.

'…We're really going to study?'

'And to think you were so glad when I agreed to tutor you. I'm not going to be done with you till your brain near explodes from the information I'll be forcing into it.'

…

'Are you sure they want me to stay for dinner Sere?' Lyra asked as Serena pulled her down the stairs, biting her lip, knowing she'd made a rather abstract impression when she'd first met her parents.

'You just made maths make sense to me, it's the least they can do, they said it themselves,' Serena giggled, jumbling down the stairs at such a speed Lyra was confused to how she didn't trip over her ponytails, seeming to have completely recovered from her parents earlier outburst.

Lyra shrugged slightly to herself as she let Serena pull her to the dining room table, just as her mother came round the corner arms laden with dishes and disappearing back into the kitchen for a moment. Serena was half way through investigating what they were having for dinner when they were nearly knocked flat by a thirteen year old boy, who sat attentively in his seat with eyes hungry. Messy blonde hair, blue eyes and a complexion that suggested he was in the middle of puberty.

'Sammy!' Serena groaned, 'Move over, I've got a friend here, which means you have to sit on the other side of the table with Dad!'

'You and Molly can sit on the other side,' Sammy retaliated not looking at his sister, pulling a fork and knife from the pile on the table.

Lyra took one look at the look on Serena's face, which seemed to spell out that this was a common argument, before leaning down and whispering in a deadly tone in his ear, 'Not. Molly. Move it brat.'

Sammy went three shades lighter than milk at this and scrambled out of the chair, before looking over to who'd spoken and saw Lyra, '…Who… Who the hell is she?!'

'Language Samuel!' came the loud cry of Serena's mother as she entered the room again, 'You don't have any allergies do you Lyrana?'

'No Mrs. Tsukino,' Lyra said sweetly, making dagger eyes at Sammy with ease, 'And please do call me Lyra.'

'Who is she?' Sammy demanded of his mother even as she left the room once more.

'_She_ has already mentioned her name,' Lyra said easily, 'I'm Serena's tutor.'

'You're like twenty, what are you doing tutoring my dumb-ass big sister?' Sammy asked.

'I'm not quite sixteen yet; I'm in your sister's grade.'

'Then how come I haven't heard of you before?' Sammy insisted.

'I go to Shiba Kōen, why are you so curious?' Lyra said forcibly.

Sammy shut up at this point due to the incredible glare Lyra was shooting at him; Serena looked overjoyed at how quickly Lyra had handled her irritating little brother. Now that Sammy had entered his teens had decided that he was superior to her in every way. Simply because he was acing all of his classes that Serena had failed consistently throughout the years. He'd become really bratty, acting like he was a ten years older than his elder sister, and showing off his knowledge whenever he got the chance. He made sure he was his parent's favorite so they wouldn't see beneath his little halo. That was when Serena's father took his seat and her mother started spooning various dishes onto everybody's plates, making it look like some sort of gourmet feast. They weren't talking too much, mainly focusing on eating, until Serena's father eventually spoke up:

'So where do you and Serena know each other from?'

'I only met her this afternoon,' Lyra explained, 'my older brother managed to upset her so I calmed her down and we got to talking.'

'You have a brother?'

'Yeah, Darien, he's twenty now, but he still can be a royal pain in the ass when he chooses to. Sorry Serena, you're in for a lot more brattiness from Sammy here till he begins to mature,' Lyra smirked.

'And you still agreed to tutor her after your brother clearly showed his dislike for her?' Ikuko asked.

'Darien's opinion doesn't dictate mine, usually it's pretty opposite, besides, I have way too much free time on my hands,' Lyra shrugged, 'Other than homework and hanging round the Crown to bug Andrew I don't really have much on my plate, so I figured if she needed help, it might actually stop me from being bored all the time.'

Both of her parents seemed inclined to say something, and seeing their attitude it would've been negative towards their daughter, when Serena intervened, 'You know Andrew from the Crown? I'm always over there.'

'Same here, Darien always jokes about me starting to pay room and board; he and Andrew have been buds since high school, he's practically family to me. I usually hand around there in the afternoon, pinch food from him, annoy him as much as possible, trip him up when he's carrying really heavy trays,' Lyra laughed.

'Wait, I think I must have seen you there, I've seen that happen at least three times,' Serena started giggling.

'That's dangerous,' Kenji growled, seeming to be judging Lyra.

'He laughs it off, besides I make sure there's no cutlery or glass on the trays first,' Lyra said simply, 'He knows it's just a joke.'

'He is so sweet, and _so_ gorgeous,' Serena sighed dreamily.

'He has a girlfriend Serena,' Lyra pointed out.

'He does?' Serena demanded, completely surprised, 'since when?!'

'Since I set them up over a year ago,' Lyra laughed.

'Why would you set him up with someone?!'

'Because it was painful watching him drool over her from a distance, he was nuts for her, just didn't want to say anything, he and Rita are perfect together, they're the sweetest couple,' Lyra laughed taking another bite of her meal.

'Wow, I'm surprised he never said anything-'Serena said still in shock.

'Why would he say anything when he gets much better tips when girls think he's single? I mean would you Serena?' she teased lightly

Kenji didn't want to hear it much longer so he interrupted, 'So are you musical Lyra?'

'Pardon?' Lyra asked, looking away from Serena giggling slightly.

'Are you musical? Your school is rather famous for its performing arts program; it does have that televised showcase every year.'

'Oh right, yeah, I guess so, not to the same extent as some other people in my grade but I do play a few instruments,' Lyra said awkwardly, knowing that she was probably not helping Serena look any better in the eyes of her parents.

'Which instruments dear?' Serena's mother asked.

'Piano, harp and the lyre,' Lyra said carefully, hoping that Serena didn't think she was trying to upstage her or something.

'The lyre?' Sammy asked with his mouth full, looking confused, 'What's that?'

'It was a six stringed instrument invented in Ancient Greece,' Serena said, making Lyra look at her in surprise, 'it was said to have been invented by Hermes and gifted to Apollo to stop him from attempting to kill him, it later became one of his symbols.'

'Wow, no one seems to know that without me explaining it to them usually,' Lyra said in surprise.

'…I've always loved Greek Mythology, and constellations,' Serena said flushing, 'I knew I'd heard your name somewhere before so I looked it up, you were named after the constellation depicted in the stars as a lyre.'

'Yeah, I was, when I figured that out I had to learn how to play it,' Lyra said smiling slightly, 'Couldn't find anyone to teach me though, so I had to figure it out by myself or look it up online. I've been learning since I was thirteen, I had to babysit every night for four weeks to buy the damned thing.'

Serena was laughing as well, but that was when Kenji decided to ask, seeming to think the conversation wasn't serious enough, 'So what do your parents do for a living Lyra? Couldn't they buy it for you?'

Lyra froze, entire face blanching at that, making Serena do a double take, Ikuko looked concerned and Kenji looked slightly nervous sensing that his question had hit a touchy topic, before Lyra said completely tonelessly, her voice empty of all emotion, 'I live with my brother, not my parents, he's a pre-med student, we're fine financially, especially since I got the scholarship, it took care of all my school fees, but we both still work from time to time if we want something on the expensive side.'

Serena squeezed Lyra's hand slightly, not sure how to respond to that. Lyra went back to eating, and the entire room transcended into silence. No one dared to speak; they didn't think it was wise to. They couldn't be sure just _how_ sensitive the topic was with Lyra; they couldn't be sure how bad the situation was that resulted in her living with her brother. So they remained silent for the rest of the meal. Sammy tried to get everyone talking again, clearly not entirely understanding the implications of Lyra's situation, but he was shushed profusely by his parents. But all of them couldn't help but wonder quite what Serena was getting into by befriending this peculiar girl?

…

Serena awkwardly looked at Lyra, who was double checking her bag and putting her shoes back on at the door. After dinner she and Lyra had studied for another hour or so before Lyra said she really should be getting home before it got much later, especially seeing as she was walking. She couldn't help but feel bad about how things had gone at dinner, Lyra had been so kind and helpful and then her parents had ruined it. Not only had they made her feel like she had to admit something like that, but they went so deathly silent after that, refusing to let anyone talk that they no doubt had made her feel worse. They really had to let go of their constant insistence on interrogating any new friends she managed to find.

'I'm sorry about dinner,' Serena said after a long moment, 'My parents don't have the world's largest amount of tact.'

'I'm used to it; my family isn't exactly the most orthodox of scenarios, I usually prefer not to bring it up,' Lyra said carefully, fiddling with the laces of her shoes, 'call me when you want to have another study session, we made a pretty good start today but I there's still a lot to teach you, there are some pretty massive gaps in your knowledge in a few subjects, except in history, you're pretty good with that.'

'Let's call it the only subject I don't have to worry about,' Serena laughed.

'In general knowledge maybe, but there may be a couple dozen things I need to help you with when it comes to essays,' Lyra said carefully.

'Oh shut up!'

'If I shut up, you'll keep getting shoddy marks, I think we'd both rather I keep talking,' Lyra grinned, making Serena laugh despite herself, before Lyra fumbled in her bag before saying, 'Damn it, I think I left my phone upstairs, I'll be down in one sec.'

Lyra ran upstairs, knowing what she had to do, and it had nothing to do with her deliberately left behind phone. As she entered she looked irritably at Luna who was still sitting on the window sill, having not moved in hours, seeming content to merely observe her and Serena. She picked up her phone from the desk, shoving it back in her bag, before sighing and picking her spot, pulling Serena's full length mirror off the hook on the wall, and keeping her hand hovering above the back of it, before starting to whisper:

'Constellation Cancer come forth and glow bright, it's time, lend me your power. I call upon Selene's last remaining heir. Activate her power, and allow her to arise. Enemies of the past draw near, those who vanquished us before have returned, and it is time for her to face them, it is time for the warrior of the moon to be awakened from her slumber.'

The lights of Tokyo may have usually blocked out most of the stars in the sky, but all of a sudden a cluster of stars flared in the sky, pulsing gold, then silver, then back to gold, almost like a signal from a world a million light years away. Luna was startled by this falling from her perch on the window, looking up with scarlet eyes wide as she stared at Lyra. Light was pulsing from her forehead, a golden light so intense and bright that it completely blurred the shape, hiding the symbol from Luna's view. A beam in the same intense light was coming from her palm, striking the back of the mirror ingraining the symbol in the back of the mirror, where Serena would never look for it. Then out of nowhere, materializing in the air in front of Lyra's tightly closed eyes was a gold pen, tipped with silver, twirling, shimmering in the blinding light. Her eyes flew open and her hand shot out to grab the stick before it hit the ground.

Lyra let out a deep shuddering breath, tears lining her eyes as she realized that she had to do this, no matter what she'd prefer. She had to force Serena to live a new life of danger and thankless struggles, that's why she'd decided to befriend her and tutor her, to take as much pressure as she possibly could off her as she was adding so much more to her plate. And why did she have to do this? It was her duty, her role, her destiny. She didn't even know how she was linked, or why it was up to her to awaken the celestial guardians, one by one until she destroyed each and everyone one of their normal lives with chaos and danger.

She didn't want to do it, not in the slightest, but it was the only thing she could do to protect this world. Keep her face and role hidden, protect her own hide, shatter other people's innocence, remove them from their simple, happy lives and make them fight. She wiped her tears away slightly before she tossed the pen into the air, snapping her fingers, making it completely disappear, as she turned to look at Luna, with burning eyes.

'It's in the portal now… You know what to do… Take care of her Luna.'

'I-I didn't realize you were the Guardian, you didn't appear different from any other human to me,' the cat whispered, far from the surprise of Lyra, 'Serena sends out the energy like a radar, but you… you don't feel any different to anyone else.'

Lyra laughed hollowly, looking down at the thick golden bangle clamped permanently to her arm, a single minuscule circle that orbited the Earth, now replaced with a small, clear diamond, 'You aren't supposed to be able to tell Luna… It makes sure that they can't find me... well, I guess that's the point, I don't have much of an idea at all on what I'm supposed to be doing... or why for that matter.'

* * *

**As the second chapter of Dawnlight unfolds, a lot is already beginning to happen, Serena is soon to be awoken as the warrior of the moon, Lyra's unfortunate past continues to be slowly unfolded, Darien continues to feel compelled to insult the little meatball head he can't comprehend why his sister is being so nice to and far away in England Mina's watching and waiting with no ideas just what her best friend is really capable of.**

**This is the official reboot of my first fanfiction, Dawnlight, which I decided to give a big polish, redo parts of the storyline and upload once more with the quality writing ability I am capable of producing now. So readers both old and new, give me your feedback, let me know of what you think of my original characters, how I'm portraying characters from the original series, and anything you find interesting or note worthy in the unfolding chapters.**

**xxo**

**Princess Selina**


	3. Heir of Terra

**Chapter Three: Heir of Terra**

As Lyra walked home, she could feel the guilt pulsing through her system. She'd pulled that on Serena, she'd decided someone's fate for them. Serena was a sweet, innocent girl, who was already having trouble handling what she had on her plate from her wack-job parents and her slipping grades. And yet despite knowing all that Lyra had still just thrown her knowingly and willingly into a world of hurt. She irritably, adjusted one of her bobby pins to keep her hair out of her face, the little distraction enough to make her brain ache as she continued to blame herself for this entire scenario.

Serena's normal life, it'd be over now, and it was Lyra's fault. She'd go from her biggest stress point being how to survive high school, to how to survive the energy-sucking beasts constantly trying to hunt down innocent people, and trying to destroy anyone who got in their way. Lyra had gone and thrown her into the forced double life, she may only have a few hours of innocence left before she was completely rid of the ability to have a normal existence. Lyra kept her head down, tears threatening to fall from the edge of her eyelashes. Why did it have to be Serena? Why did it have to be her?

'…Why does it have to be _my_ call?' Lyra whispered to herself, as she felt the first few tears drip down her face, but crying even so slightly made her angry as she wiped them away angrily, hissing to herself, 'Cut it out, you've done enough crying for a life time.'

'Talking to yourself again Franklin?' drawled a voice.

Lyra whipped around, and irritably found herself face to face with Toby, making her glare at the taller boy. In a country full of people that were generally shorter than her, it somehow made him that bit more annoying to her. She just couldn't understand how he had such a knack for showing up exactly when she didn't want anyone to see her, but he did and it made her want to throttle him.

'What do you want?' she snapped, knowing that he could probably see the ruminants of tears on her face.

Toby looked almost unsure of how to react, clearly able to tell what she'd been doing when he'd approached her, his eyes widening slightly, 'Have you been... crying?' he said shifting his stance ever so slightly, but unable to go two seconds without a crack at her, he added in, 'Because last time I checked it wasn't a possibility for your species.'

As he moved slightly closer, she heard a vague clink coming from his bag, which instantly she adapted into her efforts for him to leave her alone, 'Well maybe your plans for getting drunk and high tonight have started earlier than anticipated, because clearly you're delusional,' she defended forcefully.

Toby gritted his teeth slightly, cursing internally from getting within two feet of her, 'Stop judging me for once will you Franklin?'

'It's hard not to be judgemental when it's just plain obvious how right I am,' Lyra said darkly, eyes focused on him, burning with hatred.

'Stop acting like such a goodie-two-shoes Franklin, it's all too obvious given your temper and violent tendencies that your far from being an angel,' he retaliated angrily.

'I have no illusions about who I am Nudnik, your nose might actually be sitting on the right side of your face if I was as much of a weakling victim as you wanted me to be,' Lyra hissed angrily.

Anger flared through Toby's expression, and it was all too obvious why. Even though Lyra had never been caught doing it by the school, she had gained a rather unfortunate reputation for injuring Toby. It usually wasn't for any particular reason, just if he pushed her too far on an already bad day, it tended not to go well. In the two and a half years they'd been forced to interact with one another she'd broken his nose six times, his jaw twice and once pushed him down the stairs so violently that she near permanently injured his back. It was a rather low blow for Lyra to bring up, and she was near asking for him to become more furious with her than he already was by reminding him what she was capable of and how easily she'd gotten away with it. The girl's at the school seemed to think the now permanent crook in Toby's nose made him appear more "roguishly handsome" than ever, but Lyra just couldn't help but wonder how they kept forgetting it meant he'd been beaten up by a girl.

Toby cracked a smile with so much scathing frustration behind it that if it had been anyone but Lyra, it would of forced them to stake a step back because it was that unsettling as he said, 'Oh Lyra, Lyra, Lyra, why is it always so necessary for you to be such a vindictive bitch? Why don't you let your hair down for once, live for a bit, enjoy life. And who knows? You might be less of a homicidal shrew than you come off as.'

Lyra's eye roll could have reversed the rotation of the Earth as she spat out, 'I'd rather eat puppy cereal than join you and your little stoner buddies in depleting your brain cells. Actually downing a live rodent sounds way more appetising then spending any longer than I already have to in your presence.'

'...Puppy cereal? How freaking _twisted_ can you get?!' Toby demanded of her, his slightly unusual accent becoming clearer as he got more and more frustrated with her.

'Oh suck it up, I'm not donating to "poor little rich kids," anonymous. Please, I have my own issues; I know what's dark and what's not. It just sounds like a thrash metal band,' Lyra said, already at the end of her tolerance with him.

'Oh little miss perfect has issues?' Toby near laughed but Lyra was just flat out done.

'Even though I don't deal with my issues by destroying my organs like you do, doesn't mean that I'm not screwed up, I'm just not a complete and utter half-wit like you. Hell, if I wasn't smart and getting you back just as bad; the bullying you and your cronies pathetically try to inflict would actually be causing psychological damage,' Lyra retaliated.

'So it's finally getting to you is it?' he asked, sounding almost pleased with it, the growl in his voice all too obvious.

'Of course it's not, you're like a blowfly, you buzz noisily around the room, irritating everyone and evading capture, but like that bug, your nothing more than a mild annoyance, that tends to go quiet when you pull out the swatter,' Lyra replied easily, her smile so flinchingly bright that it made Toby hesitate before he replied regardless.

'A fly huh? If my efforts to torment you are so meaningless, than why were you crying?'

Lyra was flat out done with putting up with him, 'I wasn't. It's impossible; I sold my tear ducts on the black market three years ago to buy a waffle maker. Either way, do not flatter yourself Nudnik; I have a lot more crap in my life than just your tedious existence and charades. Now why don't you leave me alone and go back to your hooker girlfriend and bastardly friends? I'm sure they'll enjoy your company way more than I do.'

Toby gave her a patronising smile, pulling out one of the beer bottles from his bag and taking a long swig from it, enticing the most judgemental look Lyra had given him the entire conversation, 'See you at school psycho.'

'Dreading it already,' she sighed, pushing past him violently as she continued her walk home.

God she hated that guy. He was the most insufferable, self-entitled prick the universe had ever produced. She couldn't understand for a split second why everyone at her school worshipped him. Then again she couldn't understand how a majority of the kids at her school could've been raised to be the assholes they were. The relief she felt when she saw her apartment building across the road was ranging in the extreme, as she hastily j-walked through a gap in the traffic, running inside, clambering into the elevator, leaning against the wall as it climbed towards the twenty third floor.

'Half-witted, self-obsessed, maniacal, bastardly scum-bag. Can't he just piss off and get out of my freaking life? What did I do to deserve this fresh wave of hell?' she mumbled to herself, not even processing the doors opening on her floor she was so absorbed in her hatred for people and the universe in general.

Only when the doors threaten to close on her did she come to her senses and exit the lift, walking straight from the elevator, swinging open 23A's door with a ceremonious clunk. Vaguely in the back of her mind she processed that it had probably further dented the wall. It had a constant crevice in line with door handle from both her and Darien's angry outbursts and the landlord was trying to get them to cut it out. But she was far too emotionally exhausted to care at all. She didn't even bother announcing her presence anymore than slamming the door shut, choosing to flop face-first onto the couch and insisting upon staying there even when Darien started prodding her trying to get her attention.

'Lyra, sis, are you okay?... Lyra, you want to tell me what's going on?... Lyra, come on, get up.'

'Is the apartment on fire?' came her voice, muffled by the couch cushions.

'No...' Darien said confused when he actually got a response for once.

'Am I on fire and yet to realise?'

'No, Lyra what are you going on about-'

'Has the inevitable zombie apocalypse begun?' Lyra questioned, still with her head firmly crushed against the sofa arm.

'Not yet, Lyra-'

'Then you have no reason to keep prodding me like a crack-pot witch making sure that the road kill she's taking for lunch is actually dead!' Lyra exclaimed raising her head for all of three seconds before flopping back on the couch.

Darien sighed knowing that he had to get her to talk before she did something stupid, so he lifted her legs slightly, making her groan with annoyance as he sat down on the sofa. She still insisted on sprawling over the entire couch, which now included him, but he didn't mind too much. She was his little sister, he wasn't going to leave her to be miserable. She didn't talk, even though he knew she realised that's why he'd sat down, so he just sat there, fiddling with one of the ringlets that had fallen loose from her ponytail, until she eventually flipped over and groaned again.

'Lyra,' he began softly, 'what happened? Did Serena say something or-'

'Not Serena, her parents managed to make me bring up my lack of parents and after dealing with that running straight into the world's biggest douche-bag was not what I needed,' Lyra admitted, skipping over the biggest reason for her misery.

Darien sighed in concern, leaning over to kiss her forehead, 'I know our situation isn't the most orthodox, but it works for us and eventually you'll be old enough that people won't bother asking you about your parents. And Toby can just get run over by a steamroller.'

Lyra laughed slightly at his last comment, sitting up slightly, 'I really need to get me one of those.'

'What? An orthodox situation? That does not sound your style,' Darien chuckled awkwardly.

'Of course it isn't, I meant the steamroller,' Lyra laughed, hugging him slightly, cuddling into his chest comfortably.

'If that guy is really that bad, then maybe we should go to the school, see if they can do anything-' Darien began which instantly ended the hug.

'Darien, you know there's no point in doing that,' Lyra snapped, 'let's face it, as much of an asshole he is, he's a rich one. I'm not exactly innocent in this whole situation, I mean I've injured him more times than I can count even using my toes. If I start trying to get him kicked out of school or suspended, the legal team he'll set up on us will have is deported to Mexico faster than I can ask for a sombrero for the novelty of it.'

Darien sighed, wishing Lyra hadn't put it like that. He pulled her closer to her, just hugging her for a long moment. She leaned against his chest, breathing softly, just knowing she had him there was comforting enough even if it was far from his strong suit. She could always count on him though, and that wasn't going to change, she knew that much.

She smiled weakly, leaning up to him and saying, 'Hey, I'll be okay, it just hasn't really been my day has it?'

'No it hasn't, throw in your epilepsy acting up and having to deal with the brats at your school all day and I think you have more than earned a nice long rest this weekend, you might want to have an early night sis,' he said gently.

'Maybe but it's still only like eight thirty, I doubt I could get to sleep if I wanted to-' Lyra began, but almost as if on cue, Darien massaged his temples slightly, a look of irratance clouding his features, 'What? Is taking care of me giving you _another_ migraine?'

Darien smiled weakly, 'Oh something like that,' he began jokingly, before getting up and pulling her off the couch, 'Come on, let's get you something to eat.'

'Oh please Serena's parents stuffed me with borderline grommet food, I couldn't eat another bite even if I wanted to,' Lyra laughed, trying to flop back on the couch even as he had hold of her arms.

'So were you pigging out on all their food? I hope there was some left over for everyone else,' Darien smirked, refusing to let her win as she tried to return to the couch, dangling from his arms and dragging her feet.

'Oh please the moment I had to bring up my living situation they stopped talking about anything but offering more food, and trust me, they would not let me say no,' Lyra complained.

'So you're still too full for ice cream?'

'Nope,' Lyra said so hastily that Darien dropped her.

She fell back onto the couch laughing, and eventually Darien did to, but he cut off suddenly, unable to help the slight gasp that escaped him as the sharp pain pierced through his brain 'Maybe it's not me that needs the early night...' Lyra said carefully, 'Are you okay Darien?'

Darien was breathing heavily, his stance completely off balance and out of nowhere, as if he was in too much pain to stand, he dropped to his knees, 'Darien!' Lyra yelped.

She leapt to her feet, shaking him forcefully, 'Come on, Darien, what's going on?!' but he didn't seem to be quite there as the pain ricocheted through his system.

He was grasping the edge of the rug between his fists so tightly that the veins were popping out of his pale skin now lingering with sweat. He was shaking and shivering, near convulsing as something seemed to just take over him and force him into a world of pain. She called out to him desperately, and forced to realise he still wasn't responding, she ran for the phone.

'Andrew!' she yelled into the speaker the moment the phone stopped ringing.

**'Whoa Lyra, can you stop yelling into the phone whenever you call? I kind of need my hearing,' **Andrew protested, laughing despite his objection.

'Andrew, I don't know what's going on Darien is- I don't know!' Lyra exclaimed desperately.

**'What? What's going on is he in any pain or-?' **Andrew began jumping into rescue mode.

'Yes! And a lot of it! I don't know what's going on?! What should I do!?' she wailed, panic seeping through her system.

**'Okay Lyra, calm down, you're going to have to hang up on me and call an ambulance, just stay calm emergency services can tell you what to do-'**

'What the hell?' she whispered, as she noticed in her peripheral vision what was happening to the hand that was holding the phone.

**'Lyra? Wait has something else happened?'**

Lyra knew she had to hang up now, and make Andrew forget this had ever happened as she decidedly roared out, 'You little shit!'

**'Lyra? What's going on?'**

'The moron was just messing with me, bye bye, I have to go murder my _wonderful _big brother.'

She hung up hastily before he could respond, slamming the phone down on the receiver before turning her focus to the bangle clamped firmly around her wrist, knowing something strange was going on with it. The small diamond that represented the moon was glowing softly, only noticeable because of the darkness of the room. Not that that was too much of a surprise, she could always tell when Mina was transformed because the amber piece of Venus would begin to glow in the same way. The real surprise however was the way that the surface on the gold piece that represented earth was now shifting. The way she was used to seeing it was where it had the outlines of the continents on it, and slowly they'd rotate throughout the day, so slowly that it wouldn't be noticeable even if you stared at it for an hour straight. But now the slight engravings were rotating going around and around at an incredible speed, and a thump ran through her body as she realised the truth that she'd avoided for so long.

'Oh god...'

Darien. The only family she had. The only one that she could rely on, no matter the situation, she wouldn't have to think about it, he was one of _them. _She couldn't believe she'd been so brainless. Darien's energy always seemed more intense, larger and more powerful than most people's, but she'd always assumed it was an effect of being around her for so long. Andrew and Lizzie's energy levels had increased massively when they'd started spending time around her, she'd assumed that because Darien had been around her as a kid, it was just a side effect. But it wasn't. He was part of the entire Silver Millennium conundrum that she just didn't understand. When she first touched Darien, it was long before she'd been awoken as the guardian, unlike with Mina and Serena, she wouldn't have been conscious of the energy pulses that happened when she first made contact with them. But she didn't want this to be true, she was desperate for it to be unconnected to the past life, desperate for him not to be someone whose life she'd have to ruin, as she spoke out:

'Endymion.'

At that word his withering seemed to stop, and he just remained frozen as tears gathered in her eyes for the third time that day. She may not have known too much of the Silver Millennium, but if she remembered anything from the hazy flashes she'd been shown three years ago, it was of Prince Endymion and Princess Serenity. He'd been raising her all this time, and she'd had no idea who he was. Knowing his Serenity was in danger, somewhere, whether or not he was conscious of it: that was what was causing him such excruciating pain. That's when she knew she had no choice. That's when she realised that if she didn't awaken him, it would kill him to think his Serenity was in danger and he wasn't doing anything. He would never forgive her if she didn't wake him up, even if it was killing her to even process this idea.

Her heart positively broke as she was forced to speak out, she placed her palm against the wall her palms glowing, her voice choking on tears as she whispered, 'Constellation Taurus... come forth... glow bright... it's time... you have watched over him, his whole life... and now it is time for him to arise... lend me your strength... I-I... I call upon Gaia's true heir... Activate his power... awaken him from his dormant state... The enemies who destroyed us once have returned... And it is time for him to protect his planet from this attack... and protect the line of Selene as he desires to so strongly... it is time... arise the Prince of Earth.'

Her voice had cracked and stumbled so much as she got the words out she hadn't even been sure that it would have worked. But the stars in the sky began to flash and glow, becoming gold, than green and back to gold. Astronomers would be having a field day today with all this celestial activity as distant constellations fused the planets guardians with the ability, power and energy to fight once more. But even as she waited for his celestial object to appear, for him to wake up and her having to explain it all, it didn't happen. She froze, waiting even as the golden light stopped pulsing from her forehead and palm disappeared, nothing happened, and then out of nowhere, Darien stood up.

She didn't even know what he was doing, but that was when she noticed the single rose between his fingers, that she didn't know where he'd gotten it from. Darien, still seemed to be trapped in his trance like state, twisted it in his fingers, throwing the bright red rose into the air. In a dramatic flash of pulsing lights which dazzled Lyra too much for her to see through them, it wasn't quite Darien standing before her anymore. He was dressed in a black tuxedo made out of a loose, light material, a top hat balancing on his head, thick white gloves on his hands and a long cape trailing from his shoulders that seemed to flow in an inexistent wind. The last piece of the costume that formed was the mask though, large white, and peculiarly shaped, she stared at him in surprise, before she could help it though, a smirk formed on her lips. To most girls he would have looked dashing, heroic, mysterious, but as he was her brother, she started laughing for one reason that needed no explanation. He looked positively ridiculous.

She stood there, laughing her head off, all sense of seriousness and impending doom melting away for a single moment. But Darien didn't seem in any state to hear her, as he turned and ran from the room, wrenching open the doors of the balcony. Lyra turned, realising she should be keeping an eye on him, there was no telling what he would do, moving just in time to see him swing open the balcony doors and leap over the edge. Lyra freaked out, running to the balconies edge, clutching the railing as she screamed out to her brother. But then she saw him land, perfectly, easily, twenty three floors below. Mouth hanging open as she watched him run down the street, slipping through back alley ways like a wraith, completely disappearing from sight, as she whispered, feeling pathetic, haunted and sickened:

'Oh god Darien... what have I done to you? What kind of sick game is this?'

...

A girl ran through a mess of trees, panting as the brambles tore at her clothes, and her long, ash blonde hair caught on twig after twig. She leapt over a fallen log, fucking under sweeping branches and was forced duck as a jet of light flew towards her head. She growled slightly under her breath, as she continued running, ultramarine blue eyes narrowed in concentration, she saw the next one coming just in time, aiming for her ankles as she pulled herself up into a nearby tree, leaping for the next one with ninja like agility. She knew that the lining of trees protecting her from a majority of the shots soon enough, leaving her open to being attacked, so she knew she had to make her move. Securing her footing in the tree she was standing in, she began clambering further up the tree, cursing internally for being stuck in heeled sandals. She came higher up, out of the tree-line, spotting her target a few meters away, she pulled the weapon she was using out, aiming carefully, knowing she had one shot at this or it would be all over, before taking a deep breath and fired.

'Ah!' Hikaru yelled out in surprise as the laser struck her, rolling over dramatically looking around and noticing Mina up the tree on the edge of the forest-y clump in her large backyard, 'Mina! That is _so _cheating!'

Mina burst out laughing, running over to her friend and pulling her to her feet, 'oh come on Hikaru, all is fair in love, war and stealth laser tag.'

Mina knew it was probably unfair to verse Hikaru in laser tag. The closest friend she had from England had never been particularly athletic, which already put her at a disadvantage whether it was her who owned the laser tag equipment or not. Also added into the unfairness of that was the fact that Mina was pretty much pro at this game, she could treat the entire thing like a Sailor V battle, in fact it was good training. But Hikaru loved the game even if she never beat Mina, and that was a good enough excuse in Mina's book.

Hikaru glared at her, but she was unable to help laughing before she commented, 'You are way too good at this game! It's just not fair!'

'It is so fair, you just lack my natural athletic ability,' Mina pouted immaturely.

'Says the girl who went sprawling how far on vault and insisting she tripped on a cat that wasn't there?' Hikaru pointed out innocently.

'Oh come on! That was like a year ago!'

'Doesn't mean it's any less relevant!' Hikaru retaliated, before the two girls looked at each other and burst out laughing.

Hikaru had been the first friend she'd made in England, as the only other person in the school who could speak Japanese fluently, she'd been the only person able to help Mina understand the English Language. She'd always been kind to her even before Mina revealed how much trouble she was having with English, always willing to let her help with all the fundraising she did regularly. Hikaru was fussing with her cropped black hair, picking out the grass that had become entangled in it during her roll down the hill. Her dark brown eyes lit up with cheer as she continued to laugh hard enough to the point of practically wheezing as she managed to get out:

'Best five out of nine?'

'You are so on-' Mina began but then heard her phone go off, 'Just a sec, probably my parents, hello?'

**'Mina Aino where are you?!' **came the harsh voice of her mother over the phone line.

'I'm at Hikaru's, you said I could go there after school. Why did you forget?' Mina asked in confusion, pushing back her tendrils of long blonde hair, making an internal note to find another ribbon, having lost the usual one in the final fight against Danburite.

**'...Oh, I did say that didn't I?... Well, you'll need to come home soon, your father and I need to talk to you about something.'**

'How many times do I have to tell you that I'm not high mum,' Mina sighed in irratance, that was what the last big intervention was about, they kept insisting that she was keeping something from them, which admittedly was true but nothing like that.

**'It's not about that Mina, just finish up there as soon as you can and come home,' **her mother sighed ever impatient.

'What, no hint why? Dad's not going to be home for hours,' Mina asked hesitantly.

**'Mina just do as you're told, he's going to try to get home as soon as he can.'**

'Yes mother, I'll be home as soon as I can.'

Mina sighed, hanging up, making a face at her phone as Hikaru raised an eyebrow at her, 'What is with your mother?'

'I have no idea,' Mina sighed, 'She says it's not an intervention, but I'm not sure if I believe her.'

'I still can't see why your mother always thinks you're out doing such stupid things,' Hikaru sighed.

'Yeah, well, she watches way too much television,' Mina shrugged, knowing that her mother had every reason to be thinking these sort of things, given the crap she'd pulled back in Japan, but having never found the way to tell Hikaru, 'She wants me home as soon as possible.'

'So, one more round right?' Hikaru smirked, knowing the way Mina's brain worked.

'Heck yes!'

...

There were three little crystals on Lyra's bangle now. The piece of rich, vibrant amber represented Mina the guardian of Venus. The clear, shining, diamond represented Serena the Princess of the Moon. And now there was the strange mix of minerals and crystals that made up the Earth in colours of blues and greens that represented Darien, Prince of Earth. They symbolised the planets, they symbolised the kingdoms, they symbolised the people, or at least they were supposed to. All they seemed to represent to Lyra was the three lives she had destroyed.

Frowned restlessly as she stared across the city of Tokyo from the balcony Lyra sat and waited. It was nearly ten o' clock, where was he? Darien had been gone for over an hour, leaving Lyra to wonder what the hell he could he be doing? The diamond on her bangle indicating Serena being transformed had stopped glowing ages ago, leaving her waiting on the balcony, heart in her throat as she waited for Darien to come back. She felt so useless, like some damsel who couldn't handle herself and she hated it.

Ever since she was a kid she did anything she could to avoid been considered weak. She'd been bullied mercilessly in primary school until one day when she was eight, she just snapped and lashed out and ended up sending a kid crying to the nurse. Her father had said that in order to control her temper, yet let her feel safe and be able to defend herself if it was really necessary, he'd started her on martial arts classes. She'd taken to them like a fish to water, and on top of her gymnastics lessons she'd eventually become extremely invested in Ninjutsu among other styles. She still took classes most days a week, and once or twice she'd actually run a class for some kids when one of the other instructors had something come up at the last minute.

She did as much as any human could have to make themselves not weak, and yet when it came from these creatures from the Negaverse there was nothing she could do. She didn't have access to powers and abilities like Serena, Mina and Darien undoubtedly did. Well, at least none that she knew of. When she was thirteen, she'd been shown that it was her duty to revive the scouts. She'd been shown faces, names, powers, abilities that all of the people that she was supposed to awaken and find, how to activate their powers and who could help her do it. That's why she had known Artemus and Luna were out there to help her and she could confide her role in them. But no one else was allowed to know, it would put both of them in danger so the mysterious voice had claimed.

She'd been told that Sailor Venus in her diminutive form could take down the dark agency under Artemus's guidance. She'd been told that she had to awaken Sailor Moon to take down the dark kingdom today, but when she'd first been awakened in her role as the guardian, she'd been told that Serenity and Endymion needed to be awoken as one. For every time she fought without out him it would only cause him the greatest pain both physically and mentally, eventually driving him insane if she didn't give him the power to help her. This was the decisions handed to her, they made it so she didn't have a choice. They made it so she had to hurt them and wasn't capable of doing anything to help them then what any human could.

Frowning to herself she pulled at her hair tie and bobby pins, allowing her ringlets to fall out of her hastily done ponytail. She never really figured out why she kept it so long when all she did was toss it up in a ponytail every day. Even having the slightest piece in her face was enough to annoy her so she only took it out when she was about to go to sleep. She stretched slightly, stalling the time, trying to think about anything else but the mess she'd just made. Mina, Serena and now Darien. She'd done this all.

Darien and Mina were the two most important people in her life; they became her family when she had nowhere else to turn. And even Serena who she realised was one of the few people she'd ever befriended, ever, was now caught up in the mess surrounding her. She wondered now like she used to why she even let herself connect with anyone, they just ended up in a more horrible situation than they ever would have if she'd just left them alone.

'Cut it out Lyra,' she hissed to herself, 'don't go to that place, it's not healthy.'

She banished the stray thought leaning to the pit of darkness still lingering in the back of her mind, but even so she unconsciously brushed her fingers over the slight white lines still present as scars on her forearms. They could have been worse, she just was thankful she was such a fast healer, otherwise it would give the jerks at her school even more material to jab at her for. She continued to stare over the balcony when she heard something behind her, and whipping around she saw Darien standing in the apartment, coming towards her, back in his usual clothes.

'Hey Lyra,' he began, but there was clearly something worrying him in his tone.

'Hey,' she said easily, knowing that he had no idea she was involved, 'Where you been?'

'Ah... don't actually know,' he admitted after a second.

Lyra was actually surprised by this, she knew when Darien was lying to her, he always did this weird thing when his jaw stuck out a little too far to one side, and he sure as hell wasn't lying now, 'You don't know?' Lyra repeated, and as he shook his head she realised that she had to cover her tracks slightly, 'You went out to buy ice cream hours ago.'

'...I did?'

'Yeah, Darien, how did you get here if you don't know where you were?' she protested, trying to see if he remembered anything at all about what had been going on.

He shrugged slightly, before saying, 'I woke up, on a bench in the middle of the park across the road, I honestly have no idea how I got there...'

'Okay honey, you need to lie down and not go wondering, maybe your anti-depressants are acting up again,' Lyra offered.

'I'm not on them anymore,' he growled, hating her bringing them up.

'Well, I don't know then, but it's getting pretty late, I think both of us could use the rest, it's nearly ten and if I'm having break downs and your blanking out then we both need to go to bed and hope that it's all a really weird dream, okay?' she replied, offering him an easy way out of the whole predicament.

Darien nodded weakly; seeming to agree with her at least for now, kissing her on the top of the head and going straight back inside to his bedroom. But Lyra still stayed out on that balcony for hours after he went to bed. Not doing anything in particular, just thinking. She needed to figure out what to do, she needed to figure out what came next, and how she could live with this. But most of all she was wondering what she could possibly help with to compensate with the ordeal she had a horrible feeling she'd only just started to cause.

* * *

**As the third chapter hits Lyra has continued to be forced into hurting those she cares about with far from a happy alternative on how to get herself out of this mess. Darien is completely clueless to his role as Tuxedo Mask, protector of the line of Serenity. Mina's enjoying a normal life while avoiding her disapproving parents, but what do they have to tell her that's so important? And Serena has begun to fight the Negaverse, not knowing just who awoke her to this task in the first place.**

**This is the official reboot of my first fanfiction, Dawnlight, which I decided to give a big polish, redo parts of the storyline and upload once more with the quality writing ability I am capable of producing now. So readers both old and new, give me your feedback, let me know of what you think of my original characters, how I'm portraying characters from the original series, and anything you find interesting or note worthy in the unfolding chapters.**

**xxo**

**Princess Selina**


	4. Broken

**Chapter Four: Broken**

Thwack after thwack vibrated through the air in the small dojo like gym where Lyra forcefully collided, arms and legs flailing in a deadly harmony, against the punching bag dangling in front of her. She transitioned effortlessly through her stances, slamming blow after blow into the plastic covering so hard that she had to adjust for swing time between each attack. She was breathing hard, but in sync with her training, occasionally making slight _ha's_ or grunts to further vent all her energy into the task at hand.

'Please don't tell me you're going to break that Lyrana,' drawled a voice and Lyra stopped breathing heavily turning to give an exasperated look to the owner and lead instructors of the gym.

He was in his late twenties with slightly overlong dark brown hair, startlingly green eyes and well defined muscles. He looked at Lyra with a world-weary, all-knowing effortlessness that would put a lot of people off, and had even made her a little nervous originally, but by now Lyra was all too used to and annoyed by it. He was one of those people who you didn't have to tell them anything, for them to know exactly what you were feeling. One of those people who would say something and you'd wonder if they were reading your mind.

'Not this time Takeshi,' she sighed, 'I'm being careful,' before slamming several more blows into the bag in a quick succession.

The young man laughed before coming over to steady the bag for her and after she struck it several more times he frowned, 'Careful maybe, but violent, there is anger in you today Lyrana.'

Lyra frowned, knowing that Takeshi was not the type to drop it as she transitioned easily into a roundhouse kick, 'I guess there's no point in denying it, I mean I did let myself in here this early in the morning.'

'I suppose me giving you a key wasn't such a bad idea after all, now tell me Lyrana, what's on your mind?' he questioned.

Lyra was a little bit tired of this question, feeling like she'd heard it way too often lately, but she decided to tell him a different aspect of her life than she would with most people, he wouldn't delve into specifics with her, he wouldn't pry and investigate, and he had a knack for giving good advice, 'A lot of stuff I guess, stress mostly... I feel like I'm making important decisions on other people's behalf. Like I'm being forced to choose the path they take and it's just not right.'

With this out in the open she sent several more punches followed by a crescent kick colliding into the pad, Takeshi struggled to keep the bag steady as she vented but he still replied with a clear and well-though out response, 'Not everything in our lives is our own choice, sometimes the path we get set on is what is best for us even if we do not know it at the time. We cannot see what is coming when we reach a fork in a road, and those who make their choices are met with one of two reactions, success or rejection.'

'And the analogy has a point?' Lyra rolled her eyes, still pulverizing the bag with intense anger.

'You feel like you're playing lady fate, deciding their path for them, but what is to say they would not have chosen this path themselves?' Takeshi questioned but grunted as Lyra's next blow struck the punching bag harder than anticipated, making him almost lose his footing for a moment.

'They wouldn't have. I know that. No one would have chosen it.'

'Then you underestimate the variety of people in this world Lyrana. Fate is an intriguing concept; everything in our lives is played out and thought through in advanced for us. Some people have a specific fate, some are free to decide. Some people are destined for great things and others are not,' he replied.

'Philosophical yada yada,' Lyra commented.

'Do you think they would have been presented with this decision should you not have been involved?' Takeshi asked her.

'Well... I suppose, they would have, eventually...' Lyra admitted, the anger was fading from her as even as her blows continued to impact at the same force, they more so seemed precise rather than violent.

'And seeing as you felt forced to make this decision for them, do you believe it is possible that given the same alternative that you were, would they have made the same decision?' Takeshi asked her carefully, which actually made Lyra stop for a moment.

She hadn't thought of it from this angle before and much to her bitter annoyance she realised Takeshi, as per usual, had a point. She stopped for a second and realised the scenario she'd been given had been simple as this: "This person's life will be in permanent danger and darkness if they fight, but if they don't fight the world that we know will eventually be taken over by a realm of people with no respect for human life and revel in the suffering of all." What if Darien, Mina and Serena had been given that choice; fight or wait for the world you know to self-destruct? It's not like any of them would have turned it down, they were good people, each and every one of them. Throw in Darien's annoyingly sharp sense of justice, Mina's constant need for chaos and Serena's inability to let the smallest of creatures be harmed and she didn't have too much reason to feel guilty or angry.

'Have you seen the truth of the situation Lyrana?'

Lyra slowly turned to look at Takeshi, frowning to herself, not sure what to say. She felt like he'd managed to lift a huge weight from her shoulders, but at the same time she still felt conflicted. These people were still facing horrors and she was more than a little instrumental in it. She didn't have to feel horrible every step of the way, she could admit that much, but it wasn't like she still didn't want to help them.

'Lyrana you have the most peculiar look on your face right now,' Takeshi commented.

'Sorry, I'm just trying to comprehend how your inspirational, rambling, take forever to get to the point nonsense has actually made me feel better,' she jibed, glad as per usual, that Takeshi got her sense of humor.

He smirked at her before replying calmly, 'Would you like to spar now you have calmed down?'

Lyra smiled at the impending challenge, 'you're so on; I've been putting in a lot of practice lately.'

Takeshi smirked with self-assurance, for obvious reasons. Lyra had never won a sparring match against him, no one except the other instructors here ever did, and he was probably the best among them. Takeshi may have been over ten years older than her, but he didn't see any point in going easy on her. Lyra was a capable fighter and a lot stronger than she looked. The only way for to improve further was to gage where she was at in her training which wouldn't be helped along if he made it easy for her. He'd never lost to her and he was on top of his training as well, he shouldn't have any more trouble winning the sparring match.

They moved to the mats set out on one side of the room, dropping into their stances, breathing deeply, awaiting the others first move. As per usual, Lyra's patience cracked first and she danced forward, sending a kick towards him, he dodged it, ducking under the blow coming towards his head. He countered, attempting to land a blow on her side but with faster reflexes than he anticipated, her hand grabbed his fist, twisting it upwards. To avoid having her arms in a locked position and exposing her back, she flipped over his arm, and forced it behind his back putting him in a slight lock before his leg kicked out and made her stumble enough for him to get his hand free. This was a higher level fight than he was used to; clearly her training had been paying off.

Regaining her balance, Lyra sprung off her heels, sending a flying roundhouse kick into his hip, successfully landing the blow. He stumbled sideways, surprised that she'd done it fast enough to get away with it as she turned to send a crescent kick at him, he instinctively swept her, forcing her down. He barely had any time to recover from her blow though as she leapt back to her feet like a femme-fatal in spy movie. He sent a kick towards her but she dropped to the ground and rolled into his legs, knocking him over. He managed to get back up but she very quickly sent through another blow, which he countered with crossed arms before trying to put her in some sort of lock but she danced out of his reach.

He gritted his teeth, this was harder than he expected. The two continued sparring, though he never successfully taking her down for more than a split second before she was right back on her feet. Half of his blows missed as she squirmed out of the way, landing several punches and kicks that he knew was going to leave some serious bruises. But as she sent a punch towards him he grabbed her fist and threw her over his shoulder towards the mats but he never expected for a moment that she'd land. Let alone on her feet, directly behind him. Then using the positioning to her advantage, she leapt slightly, kicking him hard in the shins. But as he hit the ground, a sickening crack rang out and that was when he realised that something was wrong.

There was a long moment of him lying on the ground before the searing pain erupted through his left leg, and he groaned deeply, knowing that something was definitely wrong, 'Takeshi?'

Lyra's voice sounded alarmed and he said the only thing he could say without launching into a tirade of swearing, as he hissed through gritted teeth, 'Call an ambulance.'

...

Lyra sat in the waiting area of the local hospital, breathing through her teeth so hard she sounded like a kettle on the boil. She was still in her work-out clothes, leaving her feeling rather cold in the over air-conditioned hallway. Her fists were clenched so tightly that veins were popping out along her knuckles, her emotions drifting back and forth between rage, sadness and regret at an incredible speed that upset her stomach.

Takeshi had been in serious pain, the moment she'd tried to touch his leg to see if it was broken he'd yelped and slapped her hand away. She'd been allowed to ride in the ambulance with him, but the entire time she'd heard the attendant hissing through his teeth as he examined his shin. That had not helped. They were taking him in for an x-ray, but she was praying she hadn't actually broken his leg, that would be horrendous. It just was not what she needed right now.

She just couldn't understand what had happened. She'd done that sort of kick a million times in sparring matches with other people, including Takeshi, she'd knocked them down but she'd never actually did anything more than bruise them. Was she on some sort of adrenaline rush she hadn't known about? Because the way it felt when her foot impacted with his leg, it had dropped its resistance just as easily as it did when she punched someone in the face and broke their nose. Hell, it was just as easy as the sixth time she'd broken Toby's nose. She'd hurt him this much and yet she felt like she'd barely touched Takeshi. Where had this new found strength come from?

She was so lost in thought that she didn't even notice someone she knew coming out of a nearby room, sitting there; berating herself for hurting Takeshi she didn't even notice her until she heard, 'Lyra?'

She looked up and much to her surprise she saw Serena standing nearby and she smiled at her instantly, even though she couldn't help but be worried that she was here, 'Serena, what are you doing here?'

'I could ask you the same question,' Serena chuckled even as her parents exited the room, talking to the doctor about something to do with pain medication.

'Not sure how, but I managed to injure my martial arts instructor,' Lyra admitted, hoping that if she confessed why she was here, Serena would do the same, not sure how these situations worked.

'You do martial arts?' Sammy asked, popping into the conversation, sounding skeptical.

'Yes, is that hard to believe?' Lyra growled between her teeth.

'Yeah, either that or I can't see you being any good at it,' Sammy replied cruelly.

'Well I'm good enough at it to send a guy with five black belts to the emergency room,' Lyra hissed making Sammy back away and rejoin his parents, making Lyra turn to Serena taking a breath, 'So, what're you in for?'

Serena sighed deeply before pulling up her shirt slightly to reveal the nasty bruises covering a good few square inches of her skin, Lyra's jaw dropped as she looked at the marks even as Serena said, 'I fell down the stairs this morning. My parents thought I was kidding but when they realised how much pain I was in they insisted they took me to the hospital. I just got an x-ray and apparently I managed to crack a few ribs on the way down, total klutz out right?'

Serena managed to laugh slightly, but Lyra knew flat out that she was being lied to. Serena was a surprisingly capable liar, but Lyra could see straight through it immediately, she knew those type of bruises; you got them from being slammed into a wall, not by falling down the stairs. She must have been injured in the fight last night; Lyra couldn't help but feel horrible on Serena's behalf, the little bit of guilt that Takeshi had managed to lift from her, was starting to seep its way back into her system.

'Poor thing, are you going to be okay? It isn't too serious right?' Lyra asked hopefully.

'Na, nothing major, my body will take care of it, they're just going to prescribe me some pain killers, I should be fine in not too long at all,' Serena assured her.

'Well if you need anything be sure to let me know,' Lyra told her, but then noticed a doctor leaving the room nearby and said, 'Excuse me sir.'

'Yes miss?' he questioned, turning back to face her.

'Sorry, did you just see Takeshi?' and at the doctor's nod she asked, 'How bad is he hurt?'

'We don't know how he could have gotten this break in a simple sparring match, but his leg is quite severely broken,' the doctor explained making Lyra blanch slightly.

'I broke his leg?' she asked hesitantly.

'...I don't know how someone of your stature could have done it but yes, broke two bones in his shin... the phrase would be closer to shattered though, he won't be able to walk on it for the better part of two to three months,' the doctor explained.

'Oh god,' Lyra groaned, the misery pulsing through her, realising what she had just done, 'Is there anything you can do? He makes a living off martial arts, there's got to be some sort of surgery or something you can do-'

'He might already need surgery to realign the bone properly, I'm sorry Miss, but there's not much we can do to accelerate the healing. Just be far more careful next time you spar with someone, that's a very dangerous talent you have,' the doctor replied, clearly failing not to judge her as he walked away briskly.

Lyra groaned slightly as she turned back to Serena, 'Please tell me you need me to help you study, I need to get my mind off it until I can think of some way to explain to Darien the amount we're going to have to pay for injuring him.'

'Of course, but... what were you two doing?' Serena couldn't help but ask.

'We were sparring and I've never beaten the guy before so I didn't think I'd be able to hurt him, I pulled one of my usual moves and I must have landed harder than I thought cause next thing I know he's telling me to call an ambulance,' Lyra said, guilt sweeping through her entire system.

'Wow... that's a pretty intense morning... um... I really don't know what to say to that,' Serena admitted.

'There's nothing to say, it was a mistake, a dumb ass move, and now I'm gonna pay for that,' Lyra replied tonelessly, forcing her emotions under control.

Serena put a comforting hand on her shoulder, sitting down for a second, giving her a reassuring and comforting look, Lyra hadn't really said anything until Serena's parents walked over, saying soothingly, 'Serena, we just need to go to the pharmacy and pick up some pain medication for you.'

'Is there any way I could just stay here?' Serena questioned, 'Moving around hurts and I think I'd rather stay here with Lyra for a bit.'

Her parents nodded, clearly concerned for their daughter's welfare as they moved off, leaving the two teenage girls sitting there in silence for a long moment before Lyra eventually said, 'Look I know you stayed to make me feel better, but I really don't feel like talking it out, I kind of just want to sit for a while.'

'I'm okay with that,' Serena smiled softly, 'we can just sit here until your friend comes out, we don't have to talk.'

Smiling lightly, she picked up a magazine off the table and beginning to flick through it, leaving Lyra lost in thought. Serena had no idea just what Lyra was thinking about, not knowing that it was mostly about her. Lyra knew that Serena was the reincarnation of Princess Serenity of the moon, and despite knowing that most people would scoff at the idea and find it ridiculous, she didn't find it all too hard to believe that she was the princess of another world. Serena admittedly wasn't the most graceful of people; she'd demonstrated the ability to trip over just about anything in the less than a day that she'd known her. From the way she'd talked, being punctual and studious were completely foreign concepts to her but still Lyra still couldn't help but envision her as the princess she once was.

If Serena was anything, it was gracious. She'd demonstrated the ability to be polite and respectful to everyone, even her parents when they were doing nothing but lecture and torment her, she didn't hold the same patience with Darien and Sammy, but well, they were special cases. She was effortlessly kind, accepting her no matter how many outrageous things Lyra had done within the first day of knowing her, comforting her when she revealed the situation with her parents, still staying by her side even when she revealed she'd shattered somebody's shin in a _playful_ match. She was content to just sit there with her, calm, cool and collected even if she must have been in a great deal of pain. She was the definition of a true Princess when you looked at in the simplest light. Who needed to be graceful when it was clear just how much of a decent person she was?

Even sitting here, thinking of Serena as the Princess she was, left Lyra raking her brains once again on a question that had plagued her for nearly three years, just how was she connected to it all? Even letting her brain linger on the idea made her feel sick and selfish. Couldn't she just keep her thoughts centered on someone else but herself? But no matter how much she tried to avoid the thoughts, her mind slipped back to the question, and after a few minutes she stopped fighting it, and allowed herself to consider what the truth could be.

She didn't know where she fit in when it came to the Silver Millennium; she didn't even know for sure that she had a past life like the rest of them did. If it was just the Sailor Senshi and Darien she was supposed to be awakening she could have decided that she was like them, royalty, and she could have stopped thinking about it even if the idea of her being a Princess was so farfetched to her that it was somewhere in between ridiculous and never going to happen. But it wasn't just those of Royal blood sent into this time period, she'd been shown everyone from guards to guardians, nobility and even the old royal messenger; she could have played a role so insignificant in that time that it wasn't even worth worrying about. Though it lingered there as a question, and Lyra hated being left in the dark, not knowing what was going on or why it had happened.

Was she someone from that past? Or was it completely random? Had the fates or whatever the hell talked to her, decided they didn't want to screw up any of their precious alien's lives? Instead deciding to pick a human slave to do their dirty work and screw up their life even more than it already was. It sounded about right, except for one thing that confused her. This new show of strength didn't sound human. It wasn't normal; you couldn't become freakishly strong out of nowhere, it was something you had to build up over time. Though it wouldn't be the first time that they had improved her abilities.

When she'd first been awoken as the guardian, she'd woken up to an eidetic memory, she'd always been a smart kid but her memory out of nowhere had become perfect, she couldn't forget something even if she tried. Almost as if it was a present for them screwing up what was left of her normal life. When she'd awoken Mina about a year ago, she'd found as time went on that she'd gotten better endurance, no longer had she just collapsed at the end of the day and had a nap. Instead she felt like she had energy to burn at all times, and she only really slept because well... she wanted to, once she had been so invested in a composition she didn't sleep for a five days, and the only thing that had really happened was her hands got shaky.

'Memory and endurance...' Lyra whispered to herself making Serena look up from her magazine.

'What was that Lyra?' she asked curiously.

'Nothing sweetie, just mumbling to myself,' Lyra assured her hastily, her thoughts continuing to focus on what she'd just started to figure out.

She could feel Serena giving her a very strange look, before going back to reading, but Lyra's mind was in overdrive. Was this another little reward for being their slave? She'd gotten stronger, freakishly stronger? And that entire sparring match... hadn't it almost seemed like her reflexes were faster than usual? Had this been what she'd got in return for waking up Serena and Darien? Increased strength and reflexes?

**_So you're finally catching on are you Lyrana?_**

She could only imagine the voices saying something like that, she hadn't heard it this time, but she'd felt it. She could feel the universe telling her she was right. Maybe that's why they picked her, she may be only human, she may only be on her first life, but for every piece of the puzzle she gave them, every little order she followed... Were they rewarding her? Improving her? Making her more capable of helping them along the way?... Maybe they had heard her after all when she had mentioned not wanting to be a damsel waiting for the warriors to come back to her. Maybe they had known that ambition long before she had.

'Serena darling?' both girls looked up to see Serena's mother standing there, smiling sweetly.

'Hi mum, are we going home?' Serena asked brightly.

'Yes, we need to get you some bed rest, we've got your medication and we're going to head home, your father and Sammy are already in the car,' Ikuko explained.

'Alright mum,' Serena said, getting up, flinching slightly as she did, 'Bye Lyra, I'll text you later, let me know how your instructors doing-'

Almost as if on perfect queue, Serena's mobile went off and without even noticing her mother's frown she picked up, 'Molly?' Lyra couldn't hear much, on the other line, even as she saw Serena's face change as she listened to her friend, who was babbling away very quickly in an incredibly thick Brooklyn accent, 'What do you mean there was a break in to the store?'

As Lyra heard this, she couldn't help but notice the very slight change in Serena's voice, it wasn't of concern necessarily, it seemed more like... she was covering something up. Like when she'd shown Lyra the bruises from the fight, the tone was there no matter how slight. Was her friend's store been where the Negaverse had attacked last night? Was that what this was about?

'Was anything taken?' Serena asked sharply, sitting down again, keeping up the guise of someone who didn't know what was going on at all.

Now that Serena had sat though, Lyra could begin to make out the other half of the conversation, **'No, not that we can see, but mama's still doing inventory,'** she head the Brooklyn girl babble on the other end.

'Then how can you know that you were broken into if nothing's been taken?'

**'The skylight was open, display cases had been all smashed, all this jewelry was lying on the ground, but at the same time... nothing seemed to be missing, I don't get it Serena,'** Molly replied.

'Don't you and your mother remember anything?- I mean, surely one of you must have heard something,' Serena said hastily, correcting her first sentence, which was clearly the question she wanted answered, if her friend had seen her there.

**'Na ah, we were sound asleep, we came down the stairs to see the shop all messed up. Though the funny thing is my ma and I had the exact same dream, about some super hero just diving in and saving us from some sort of monster which had taken over our customers.'**

Serena clearly was putting all of her strength into not showing how much Molly's words surprised her managing to get out after a few seconds, 'What some hunky guy with his underwear on the wrong way showed up to save you?'

**'No! Nothing like that, and that's what makes it so weird my mama and I saw the same thing. We saw some girl in like a sailor-suit, you know like in Manga, she had an enchanted tiara that she used to stop the monster, she called herself Sailor Moon, the Champion of Truth and Justice and-'**

'Wow Mol, you sure you and your mum weren't drunk?' Serena butted in before she lost her cool.

There was the sound of laughter on the other end before saying, **'It's just a little weird I guess, I need to go help my mum clean up, I'll talk to you later.'**

'Bye Molly,' Serena said hanging up, and looking up at her mother, 'Sorry, I just had to talk to Molly, you know Osa-P the jewelry store on the main shopping district?'

Serena looked around to to Lyra, making her nod, 'Yeah, I know the place, what happened?' she questioned like she hadn't been listening in on the whole conversation.

'My friend's mother runs it, they got broken into last night,' she explained making Serena's mother jump.

'Is Molly and her mother alright?' she asked desperately, 'Did they see the burglars?'

'No, they didn't,' Serena explained hastily, 'They were sound asleep and came down to see their store trashed, but it seems like the thieves didn't take anything, I think everything is just a little confused over there, is there any way I could go over and make sure she's okay?'

Serena's crystal blue eyes were shining with desperation as she looked up pleadingly at her mum who much to Serena's clear disappointment, shook her head, 'I think you need to take care of yourself a little first Serena, I'm going to take you home, you need to have a nice long rest and then if you're feeling up to it I'll take you to go see her, alright?'

'...Okay,' Serena sighed, clearly upset.

Lyra looked at Serena in concern, unable to help but wonder if the only reason she'd agreed to fight was because her friend was in danger. It sounded like a complete Serena thing to do, that much she was sure of. Serena waved absent mindedly at Lyra, not seeming in the mood to talk anymore as she and her mother departed, leaving her sitting in silence. With her thoughts split between so many things that it was starting to give her headache, Lyra only had a one thing to mumble to herself as she sat there, filled with the guilt that was starting to seep back into her system.

'Memory, endurance, strength, reflexes... wonder what the hell I'll get next time...' Lyra muttered before realising what she said, before admitting something to herself under her breath, 'Yeah, there's going to be a next time whether I like it or not.'

...

As Serena came into her bedroom, hair still soaked from her bath, she collapsed onto her bed gracelessly, flinching as the muscles on her side pulled slightly. She breathed deeply more than ready to sleep, she had barely slept a wink after she'd come home. She'd just been in too much pain, but her parents had thought she'd gone to bed over an hour before. She'd been forced to lie there for hours, waiting till her parents were up so she could stage her falling down the stairs. She'd thrown herself down them, and even though it had hurt, it was nothing on the pain she'd experienced breaking her ribs in the first place. She lay there on her back, hand unconsciously moving to touch the bruises, which hurt enough to bring unwilling tears to her eyes, but she kept her hand there regardless, only thinking of what had happened to her last night.

'Serena?' came a voice.

'Oh god, you're still here aren't you?' Serena muttered as the cat came into view.

Luna leapt off the window ledge, pawing Serena's hand, forcing her to look at her with annoyance spreading across her face, 'Now I know you don't want to hear this but-'

'I don't want to hear you talk at all, you're a cat!'

'A fine observation but that is not the point,' Luna replied calmly, 'You did the right thing by going to help your friend when she needed you-'

Serena groaned and turned her head away; remembering what had happened after Lyra went home:

_'Oh god I'm so tired, studying is way too exhausting a girl can't do it for this long, it's just not right don't know how Lyra can do it,'_ _Serena mumbled to herself as she shuffled towards her bed, reaching for the pajamas stashed under her pillow._

_'Serena.'_

_'Yeah mum?' Serena asked, turning around, but noticing that her door hadn't opened, she continued looking around before noticing she was the only one in the room besides the cat which hadn't left even when Serena opened the window for her, 'That's funny kitty, could have sworn I heard someone in here.'_

_'Serena,' the cat replied simply making Serena leap backwards and trip over the stool in front of her dresser, falling to the ground as the cat scampered down off her bed landing on her chest._

_Serena froze in fear before she spat out, 'What do you want? What are you doing here?... How can you talk?'_

_But the cat simply smiled at her, if cats could smile, as it said with the ease of a human, 'Serena, I came here looking for you of course.'_

Serena pushed Luna away from her with one hand, not liking the idea that she was talking to a cat, let alone the idea the cat was talking back. It still hadn't entirely sunk in, even if she now knew for sure that what had happened last night hadn't been a dream at all. The bruises, the rib breaks, the call from Molly, they all confirmed what she was dreading; that she'd been hoping wasn't true.

'Serena, you mustn't be bitter about this, you have had a great honor and responsibility bestowed upon you and-'

'Go give it to someone who enjoys responsibility, I'm sure you can find someone other than me,' she groaned, closing her eyes, hoping that if she pretended to be asleep that Luna would leave her alone.

'You are not sleeping, how foolish do you think I am Serena? You are the only one who can fulfill this role, and you're going to have to get used to that.'

_Serena stared at the strange looking stick in her hands, well by stick she meant pen and by pen she meant she had no idea what it actually was. She knew this had to be a dream by this point, a cat was talking, she was told she had powers and the cat had backflipped only to give her this thing. The bottom half of the pen was silver, with the top half being what looked to be solid gold, it was oddly heavy for such a small object, hardly larger than her hand, but she could put that down to the metal. There was a large oval coming off the top, with the centre piece being a charm of a crescent moon in what almost looked for a moment like diamonds. At the very least it was a beautiful object, but she still didn't understand what this weird dream meant._

_'If you still don't believe me,' Luna said, 'Raise that pen into the air and call out "moon power" and tell me if this is all a dream or not.'_

_Wanting it to be over Serena raised the pen into the air, she just laughed, thinking that it wouldn't change a thing if she did, 'Okay, okay, calm down dream kitty. Moon Power!'_

_In a flash of dazzling pink and silver lights she'd looked up to see a crescent symbol shining above her, and the pen started to levitate in the air above her shining pink ribbons started to spiral down, wrapping her forearms, torso and shins in pink ribbons. Her eyes were closed but she could feel what was happening, the ribbons melted away leaving her in gloves, boots and a leotard with a thick sailor collar. In another tremendous flash of dazzling light that she could feel tearing at her pupils behind her eyelids, she felt a skirt appear, dropping half way down her thighs, and a band of gold pressed its way onto her forehead, and the buns atop her head felt heavier as berets connected with her odangos. _

_Opening her eyes she saw her reflection in the mirror on the wall, gaping, her eyes wider than she thought possible as she wordlessly stared at what she was now wearing. A sailor-uniform of white, blue and dark reddish pink, heeled thigh-high boots and a slim gold tiara with a ruby in its centre. Every part of the outfit was hinted with crescent moon motifs, from the symbol on the edge of the boots, to the earrings that dangled from her ears despite her never having gotten them pierced. She looked for a moment longer at the reflection before turning back to the cat, a question slipping out before she could hold it back:_

_'What have you done to me?!'_

Why had she done that? Serena couldn't help but think that she should have seen beforehand that it was not going to end well. She should have realised that it was way too real to be just a dream, she should have known that. But at the same time, if she hadn't gone along with it, Molly could have been seriously hurt, when she'd come in, she'd been pinned to the wall by her throat by that creature, being strangled. The image haunted her even as she sat there with her eyes closed, flashes from those moments of terror pulsing through her head.

She didn't like the idea of taking on this new double-life, another persona, another point of stress she'd have to deal with. Being "Sailor Moon" as Luna called her was a big responsibility, one she didn't know if she could handle. Between her grades, tardiness and her parent's reactions to them, she thought quite frankly she had enough to deal with as it was. Though one thing made it slightly better, the mysterious boy she'd met, the one who had encouraged her to fight the creature when it all seemed lost. Even the thought of him made her blush from where she lay, firmly ignoring Luna. He was just so dashing and handsome and courageous, he was _perfect_, and had she mentioned how gorgeous he was?

_Her side ached from where she had crashed so hard into the cabinet in Osa-P that she'd shattered the glass. She didn't think she'd be cut by the shards that had rained down on her but she was in a lot of pain, so much pain that she could barely move. The creature, the "youma" as Luna said, was strong, freakishly strong, so strong in fact that it had sent her flying across the room like it took as little effort as chucking a rag doll. Tears leaked down her face, she knew this was the end, that thing was going to get rid of her for interfering, this was so stupid! Why had she even bothered coming when she'd known there was nothing she could do? The creature was approaching her again, its twisted face leering at her under its mop of wild brown hair, but in the moment she thought she was done for, something struck the ground between the Youma's feet, a single red rose._

_Atop the skylight which she'd left open when she'd entered, stood a man dressed in a black tuxedo, his long cape fluttering in the wind beside him surrounding him in red silk. His face was obscured by the top hat and mask, but it was all too clear to Serena just how positively gorgeous he was, and even as the creature leapt towards him, he remained effortlessly calm. He drew back his wrist, sending another rose spinning towards the youma, which struck the creature in the forehead, sending it crashing back down to the ground, smashing another display case. He wasn't an ordinary man that was for sure, and those weren't just any plain old roses, she stretched out her gloved hand, picking up the rose, realising that its stem was sharp like a blade that could pierce both the carpet and the concrete underneath. _

_'Sailor Moon, you cannot give up, you can destroy this creature if you truly try, if you truly believe in yourself,' he called dramatically, his voice like warm honey to her ears._

_'He's right Sailor Moon, throw your tiara and say "moon tiara magic" it's the only way to destroy that creature,' Luna cried out desperately from where she was hiding behind a cupboard._

_Unsteadily Serena managed to force herself to her feet, internally thinking just how ridiculous these boots were for the situation she was in, slipping the tiara off her forehead, and almost instantly the gem began to glow. Holding it in the air, she spun around to face the youma, still distracted by the barrage of roses the man was sending towards it. She sucked in a deep breath, drawing back her arm even as her side screamed in protest; she saw it begin to glow in an intense light even before she called out:_

_'Moon tiara magic!'_

Serena could hear the screams of the creature vibrating through her skull as she thought of the moment she'd destroyed it. It had collapsed into a pile of dust on the ground, and by the time she'd looked back to the skylight, hoping to get another glimpse of her knight in shining armor, he'd disappeared. She couldn't help but be disappointed by that, she at least wanted to be able to call him something, maybe he could help her in this bizarre situation she'd found herself in, he'd clearly known what he was doing. Besides he was just about as perfect as a guy could get.

Opening her eyes, she turned back to Luna, asking the cat simply, 'Who was that guy from last night?'

'I'm afraid I don't know Serena,' the cat admitted, 'but he was of great help to you, perhaps you shall see him again.'

'Oh I know I will, even if it's only in my dreams,' Serena sighed sleepily, yawning, knowing that this time she was legitimately about to fall to sleep.

'Sleep well young one, you've had enough drama for today,' Luna laughed, making Serena smile despite herself, as she slipped into the dream world.

This whole Sailor Moon thing may have been an unexpected addition to her life, but maybe, if this mysterious stranger was involved, she could learn to enjoy it.

* * *

******Lyra's abilities are only being expanded on, but what new stress will be added to her life now that she's injured someone that badly? Also how will her new found strength effect her as she returns to school monday morning, an environment that seems to entice her to be on the violent side, and just how strong is she? Also Serena has already injured herself in her fight for justice, she's not eager but Tuxedo Mask's sudden appearance might just make it worth it.**

******Thank you to LoveInTheBattlefield for your review and I hope you continue to be interested. Thank you also to Flareup4Ratchet for your follow and favourite, as well as to Keresa and Boyrich for following along with the story. Please follow their example and review, follow and favourite along the way.**

******This is the official reboot of my first fanfiction, Dawnlight, which I decided to give a big polish, redo parts of the storyline and upload once more with the quality writing ability I am capable of producing now. So readers both old and new, give me your feedback, let me know of what you think of my original characters, how I'm portraying characters from the original series, and anything you find interesting or note worthy in the unfolding chapters.**

******Review, favourite and follow.**

******xxo**

******Princess Selina**


	5. Battle Plan

**Chapter Five: Battle Plan**

Lyra continued to sit where she had for the past few hours, at Takeshi's bedside where he slowly breathed in and out, fast asleep. They'd had to take him into surgery after all, they need to realign the bones in his leg and had taken him through almost immediately. She hadn't been able to even talk to him before they pulled him into the operating room; she hadn't been able to tell him how sorry she was for this. The sedatives were going to wear off soon though, so she was waiting for him to wake up so she could find out whatever she needed to do to make this right.

She was composing again; she could only guess it was a stress response by this point as well as a hobby. And just from examining the musical piece she was currently working on, she knew it simply spelled out she wasn't okay. It had way too many violins and the tempo was way too slow for her to be. It was a ballad that wouldn't have been out of place in the post break up misery scene in any teen flick with a decent soundtrack.

She glanced at Takeshi again; the grown man looked like a child where he was covered in blankets in a hospital dress, a large cast on his leg, being forcefully elevated by a strap. She wondered how he was going to get by like this. He was a martial arts instructor, it kind of relied on him being able to walk around, correct people's stances, show people how they were supposed to be doing attacks, and sparring with those students of higher levels. Not only that, but he fought in tournaments all across Asia, she had not only took him out of the competitive circuit for however long it took him to be able to get the cast off, and also for the rehabilitation period he'd need. She had caused way too much damage to his life because of one misjudged kick. Was additional strength reallysupposed to be a reward for doing what the fates told her? How could that be when it was screwing her life up way more than it would have been if they just left her be.

That's when a slight noise caught her tension and with a sleepy, muffled groan, Takeshi had opened his eyes, 'Takeshi,' Lyra whispered, standing up to look at him.

He smiled at her relaxedly, 'Who hit me in the head and for how long have I been knocked out?'

'No one hit you in the head, _I_ broke your leg and _you_ had to have surgery, remember?'

Even Lyra was surprised by how bluntly she'd put that, even she would have usually tried to sugar coat it, but her brain didn't seem to want to let her. Takeshi quirked an eyebrow at her, before sitting up as much as he could, biting his lip forcefully as he noticed the cast on his leg. He sighed in irratance and collapsed back onto the bed, muttering a curse under his breath, making Lyra flinch. She'd never heard him swear before, and she'd seen him in some pretty intense pain.

He failed to notice her facial expression for a moment though as he began to say, 'Well there goes competitions for the rest of this year- oh Lyrana, do not make that face.'

'This is _my_ fault I can make any face I want to,' Lyra insisted, knowing that it was a pretty horrendous look of misery, guilt and self-inflicted tormenting.

'Lyra, I don't blame you, it was an accident, unless you have some vendetta against me that I'm not aware of,' he said managing to chuckle slightly.

'How can you laugh when I've just- ugh!' she simply huffed, unable to finish the sentence.

'Lyrana, you have nothing to worry about, I'll heal up, relax, I own the dojo, it's not like I have to be an instructor to have a source of income,' Takeshi insisted, trying to keep her calm, seeming far more concerned about the rate of which she was blaming herself.

'Just send the hospital bills to me regardless, this is my fault, I'm taking the blame for it, there's no need to sue me for whatever you need from this,' Lyra grumbled, pacing up and down the room, clearly thinking internally about what sort of job she'd have to get to cover the expense.

'Lyrana, I am not asking you to cover my hospital bills or give any sum of compensation-'

'This is my fault; I'm not making you juggle that when-'

'Lyra!' his voice cut across her loudly, making her freeze for a moment, 'Find your centre and relax, release your anger and allow me to speak.'

Lyra paused, before taking a long breath in, sinking into the chair at his bedside, 'I apologize for my outburst Sensei.'

It was unusual for her to use the honorific term for him, she rarely would give anyone the level of respect. Even though everyone else in her classes would refer to him as such, as he was the head of the dojo, she had rarely seemed capable of saying it any other way but mockingly. He knew how much the young girl tended to force the weight of the world onto her shoulder, and knowing the dark places her mind was capable of reaching he knew it was just as important to take care of her as well as himself right now. He may be physically injured, but her discovery that she was capable of doing such a thing was mentally scarring. He could tell that much from the look on her face coupled with the fact she of all people had actually called him Sensei so respectfully.

'Now Lyrana, allow me to speak and do not interrupt this time, do you understand?' he offered, and at her dutiful nod which unnerved him slightly he began to speak, 'I am a _competitive_ martial arts fighter, because of that profession I have better health insurance than anyone else in this city. This won't cost me much at all, but it will hurt the business. I cannot ask the other instructors to cover so many of my classes, and although I can observe them, I am unable to properly help my students. Though before the surgery began, I was thinking of ways to cover such an injury, and I have a simple conclusion. You do wish to help me do you not?'

Lyra looked up nodding, and when he gave her yet another look she said in a voice that didn't quite sound like her own, 'Yes Takeshi.'

'Well then, if you do want to help, I suppose covering some of those classes for me over the next few months would be more than enough for you to wash that guilty look off your face,' he offered.

Lyra looked stunned, surprised that he'd offer her such a position. She'd taken classes before, but it had always been because of family emergencies, last minute events or massive traffic jams. To become an on hand teacher, taking classes for weeks on end... that was a responsibility she hadn't expected he'd think she was ready for. Not that it wouldn't be interesting, in fact it would be a lot of fun, but was she ready for it?

'Lyrana?' he questioned, 'You still haven't answered me, will you cover some of my classes?'

Lyra paused for a long second, before nodding slightly. But finding herself liking the idea more and more she continued nodding her head to the point she looked like a bobble head, causing Takeshi to laugh at her. Somehow, she'd fixed this, and she didn't quite understand how. She didn't even entirely realize that if Takeshi hadn't known some fragments of her dark past, she hardly would have been let off so easy.

…

Mina gaped at her parents, her eyebrow arched so high that it had disappeared into her hair line. She couldn't believe what she had just heard, even though when it came to her parents she had to have a pretty high shock threshold. It was ridiculous, it was completely ridiculous. Yet for some reason it sounded so much like her mother that it wasn't too hard to swallow at all.

'So we're going back to Tokyo... and you're only giving me _how_ many days notice?' Mina asked sharply staring up at her parents.

'We fly out Sunday night Mina, isn't it great you can see all your old friends again soon enough!' her mother beamed.

'…I don't talk to any of my "old friends" for a reason mother! Are you honestly telling me I have less than forty eight hours to pack and say goodbye to everyone I know from here!?' Mina demanded.

'Well they're hardly a good influence on you Mina; we never know where you are half the time when you're over here-' her father tried to say, a little more conscious of how nuts this sounded.

'You didn't really know where I was back in Tokyo, god I thought we've been over this a million times! I thought you said you were going to trust me! I've been getting good grades, I learnt a second language, I'm part of the volleyball team, I volunteer at a soup kitchen, and I help out at blood drives! How does all that work to improve myself, make myself better and dig myself out of the mess I'd made of my life amount to getting shipped back to Tokyo!?' Mina yelled tears gathering in her eyes, she was much happier in London than she'd ever been in Japan.

'We are not shipping you off Mina; we're going with you-' her father tried but her mother just cut straight across him.

'You may be doing all those things but it doesn't explain where you always disappear to out of the blue, you have never been more radically dishonest with us than you have been in the last year! We are moving back to Tokyo and you're just going to have to deal with that!' her mother decreed loudly making the tears pour down Mina's face even more dramatically than before as she stared open mouthed at her mother.

'Sweetheart,' Mina's father interrupted hastily, knowing this couldn't be good for his daughter's mental health, 'Why don't I just tell her the other reasons that we want to move back? How about you do some more work on packing up the kitchen okay?'

Throwing her hands in the air muttering away in Japanese under her breath Mrs. Aino left the living room in a huff, sighing at his wives antics he sat down next to his daughter and said, 'Look sweetheart, it's not just about that at all, in fact I'm proud of all the work you've done to make yourself a better person. But you have to remember why we came here in the first place; my sabbatical is nearly up, my consulting work finished at the beginning of the month so we were already pushing it.'

'I get _that_ it's just…' Mina broke off as another fresh wave of tears interrupted.

'Also, you seem to forget your mother and I's families are over there. We're both from a set of twins, there's a bond between our families that doesn't do well over such a distance. And of course, we can hardly deny the fact that the person your closer to than anyone else is over there,' he reminded smiling at her gently, 'It would be good to finally meet this Lyra girl we've been hearing so much about.'

Mina nodded slowly, tears still running down her face but they were silent and no longer was she gasping for breath as she leant over and hugged her father. She was going back to Tokyo, and she wasn't entirely sure if that was a good thing. London had been where she had discovered who she was who she wanted to be and she really wanted to stay here, to stay that person. Tokyo offered her nothing but uncertainties of what could happen to her, and just who she would be when she set foot back into Shiba Kōen and how much her reputation would hurt her. She felt something brush against her legs and notice Artemus brushing against her legs, the white cat looking up at her, his large blue eyes telling her that they had to talk about this.

'…Thanks for giving me some more reasons dad, I think I understand,' she admitted, ending the hug, 'I ah… I'm just going to go upstairs and call Hikaru and some other people from school I want to be able to see them one last time before we go.'

'You'll be able to keep in touch with them Mina, nothing to fret about, you've made friendships work over long distance before,' he assured her, waving her off.

Smiling gently Mina walked upstairs, Artemus weaving his way up beside her and the moment she walked into her bedroom something occurred to her, 'Wait a second, I can't leave… What if the Dark Alliance starts up again in London? People could get hurt and I won't be here to help them! Adonis wasn't doing what he did out of spite, he was working for someone else I know that much! I can't leave! Oh god, what am I going to do?! I have to convince them to stay-'

'Mina!' Artemus cried, trying to interrupt her rambling, 'They're not coming back here, and you're parents decision is a surprisingly lucky stroke of fate… The Dark Alliance, or I should I say the Dark Kingdom is in Tokyo now.'

'What?' Mina whispered before suddenly dropping to her knees in front of the cat and demanding, 'Wait how do you know this? Has anyone been attacked or hurt or-'

'I have an associate in Japan, who has awoken another of the scouts. Sailor Moon has been awoken and she took down a Youma of the Negaverse there, these aren't idols any more, they can take shape of anyone, materializing themselves into the guise of someone who is trusted and ceasing the energy of anyone they can,' Artemus explained, 'The moment Sailor Moon needs your assistance you must be ready to come to her aid. These creatures may be more powerful and more devious than any you have fought before.'

'So… To Tokyo we go after all…' Mina whispered, 'Wow… It's going to be hell isn't it Artie?'

'Oh… probably.'

…

Lyra walked back into her apartment, throwing her keys on the coffee table as she did, spitting her gum like a projectile into the bin, turning around as she noticed Darien fast asleep on the couch. Rolling her eyes in lack of surprise, she pulled a nut out of the bowl on the table tossing it into her mouth and swallowing it in one gulp. She knew Darien had a shift earlier that day; he'd had to go in early to double check the stock before the store opened. He'd be exhausted by now, he only would have only just gotten home fifteen minutes ago max and it was half past four in the afternoon.

'Time to wake you up.'

Lyra walked into the kitchen, pulling out the tray of ice cubes that Darien had tried and failed to throw out half a dozen times. And he wanted rid of them for a very particular reason. Smiling to herself, Lyra walked back over to the couch and pulled up the back of his shirt, and with no hesitation whatsoever, she turned the tray over letting them all fall onto his back. Darien's reaction was instantaneous; wrenching himself up off the couch, leaping into the air waving his arms so dramatically that Lyra had to jump to the other side of the coffee table to stop being smacked by his flailing arms.

The twenty one year old, self-professed badass yelped and squealed like a four year old, looking furiously at his little sister as she fell to the ground laughing. Angrily, he stalked off into the bathroom, wet patches from the ice all over his shirt and pants, shivering slightly. Returning to pelt Lyra with the ice cubes which much to his annoyance missed her as she ducked and weaved out of the way.

'What did you do that for!?' he demanded.

'If you sleep on that couch you're going to put your back out, again,' Lyra reminded sweetly, beaming at him.

His glare could have suggested she'd just tried to feed him through a wood-chipper, as he angrily huffed, 'I've been working for over eight hours, I'm allowed to sleep!'

'And if you'd slept there any longer you would have been complaining to me for the next week about why I didn't wake you up,' Lyra reminded smugly.

'...Why did you really wake me up Lyra? My pain is your gain if memory serves,' he asked darkly.

Lyra hesitated for a long moment, hating his mind-reading before admitting, 'I may or may not have something slightly awkward to tell you.'

'Is this one of those things when you bring Mina through on the laptop and announce a "family conference?" Because I was hoping that had stopped happening,' he asked sounding slightly amused.

'Yeah pretty much,' Lyra grinned slightly, 'But it's Saturday morning in England and Mina's not going to be up for at least another hour.'

'Wow, it really would be rude to wake someone up when they're clearly exhausted,' Darien replied sarcastically.

'I would wake her up if it wasn't for the near six thousand miles in between us, by the time it would take me to get there the ice would have already melted, and there's an iddy bitty bit of water in my way,' Lyra said sounding dead serious which made Darien soften and smile at her.

'Fine, what did you do this time?'

Lyra knew there was no way to sugar coat it, so taking a deep breath she told him the truth, 'I broke Takeshi's leg.'

'...You broke his leg?'

'In two places. According to his doctors they have never seen a displaced fracture and a comminuted fracture in the same injury before, especially from the same blow,' she offered.

'Wait, isn't Takeshi your _martial arts_ instructor?' Darien demanded, beginning to pace up and down the living room.

'That's the one,' Lyra offered awkwardly.

'…How the hell?!'

'I think it makes more sense that I'd injure a martial arts instructor opposed to an average person, we were sparring, and it just got out of hand-'

'Just got out of hand?!' Darien barked, starting to sound more and more fatherly as word after word shot from his mouth, 'You injured him in a way trained professionals didn't even know was a possibility! And now every cent I've been saving for that new car is going to be blown on someone else's medical bills because of you!'

'He's not asking me to pay his medical bills-'Lyra began

'You did this, and we are going to fix it whether he's asking you two or not!' he snapped forcefully.

'I am fixing it. But not through paying his medical bills!' Lyra yelled, tired of being raged at.

'Oh so you're just going to use a magic spell to fix the bloody thing-'

'I'm taking over his classes!'

Darien shut his mouth with a snap, taking a deep breath to regain his usual temperament before saying, 'Explain.'

'Takeshi fights professionally; he's got enough health insurance on him to cover this injury with plenty left over. The problem is more so about what it does to the dojo, he said that he wouldn't ask me to pay anything for injuring him, as long as I took the classes he usually teaches. He knows I'm still in school so he's organized it so I take classes in the afternoon and on weekends, all in all I'll probably be taking about nine classes a week.'

'…_Nine _classes? Lyra, I get that you want to help this guy but you're in school, even if it's during free time you still have home work and assignments and you've got to have some time to yourself. And-'

'Calm down smother hen,' she interrupted, 'the classes only go for an hour; I've had part time jobs that have had nearly twice that many hours a week. I'll still have some free afternoons as well, it's not going to be much of a big deal, and besides, Takeshi said at the rate he pays his instructors, that within three or four weeks I'll have paid him back more than enough. If I keep up the classes he'll pay me and it's a way better rate than I'd ever get babysitting or waitressing.'

'…Okay I get that but still it seems a little ridiculous that a sixteen year old-'

'Is teaching a bunch of five year olds? Darien, I love martial arts, and this would be a great way for me to conquer my fear through teaching, plus we sure as hell won't have to pick up an extra job to pay for an excursion next time,' Lyra persuaded carefully.

'…Fear of what exactly? Teachers?'

'Children,' Lyra put rather bluntly, before pulling at his hand coaxingly, 'Come on Darien, let me do this, I might actually have some fun with this, and it's a great opportunity… Also seeing as I'm not getting paid for the first little while I can put it down as volunteer work. The school automatically gives me extensions on assignments and cuts my homework load in half. Why do you think half the kids in my school claim to be tutoring younger students?'

'...Is that why you started tutoring Serena?' Darien smirked, feeling like he was catching onto something.

'I started tutoring Serena because she's your future wife, but whatever helps your mental health.'

…

The feeling of tension in the air was incredibly intense as those gathered stared each other down, waiting for someone to break or bend. The dim light cast a shady ambience throughout the room making the near silent space eerie and foreboding. There only noise was the crinkling of paper, the nervous tapping of fingernails and the ever present clatter that came from their centre of attention. A massive stack of poker chips.

It was a strange sight to see, two grown men and their little sisters in button up shirts, vests, bow ties and transparent, green plastic visors. Shuffling their stacks of cards, glaring at each other as one by one Darien flipped over the cards remaining on the table, and there was a split second of tension as his little sister placed her stack of cards face up. Andrew and Lizzie collapsed onto the table groaning as Lyra crying out victoriously pulled the massive stack of poker chips towards her.

'_I _thought you had nothing!' Andrew complained, 'the look on your face, how did you have a hand like that!?'

'I can't believe you fell for that again,' Lyra laughed, 'Classic triple bluff.'

'Of course you got the straight, I had a three kings, I thought I had you for once,' Lizzie complained, helping herself to a cookie, pushing back a fragment of her stunning red hair.

'Well you had me till the river if it makes you feel better,' Lyra offered, 'Besides Andrew continues to have never won a round since he was stupid enough to claim he was good at this game.'

'Oh shut up Lyra! Not everyone is a freaking lie detector, you should just enroll in the CIA so I at least could blame it on that,' Andrew groaned.

'Your bad move was asking her to pass you the sour straps,' Darien smirked chucking the dealer badge to Lizzie, 'She took your pulse again.'

'You took my pulse? What the hell?!' Andrew asked turning to Lyra, betrayal seeping through his features.

'Oh come on, I already knew you were bluffing, I just had to be sure, you really need to be conscious of everything you do when you play card games with me. You bite the inside of your cheek when you have absolutely nothing to play, and you hair flick when you've decided that you're going to win,' Lyra pointed out making Darien howl with laughter as Lizzie turned to her brother looking completely aghast.

'You hair flick?'

'Of course he does! The more the tweens giggle and blush at him at the arcade, the more he does it,' Darien smirked.

'He reminds me of this student teacher at my school,' Lyra said taking a sip from her smoothie, 'He asks all the middle schoolers if they've done their homework and works the charm to make sure they do exactly what he asks. Hair flicks half way through the sentence and doesn't even know he does it.'

'I _do not_ hair flick!' Andrew insisted loudly, turning away and pouting, which much to his disadvantage made his pale blonde locks swish like a shampoo commercial.

Lizzie, Darien and Lyra burst into an even further explosion of laughter, falling against each other as Andrew muttered something about having to call Rita and leaving the room. Desperate to save whatever dignity he had left, not that it was much. He was too much of an easy target, not that he'd ever hold it against them. And as their laughter vibrated through the tiny apartment in the heart of Tokyo, they had no idea just what had changed, and what was going to change.

A snap shot of this moment would have looked like a perfect representation of their little dysfunctional family. Though they didn't know that didn't know that this would be one of their last perfect moments. Darien and Lyra would soon not have the time or the energy to spare on the few friends they had, because soon their lives would get darker than ever before. Soon enough, it would be a lot safer for Lizzie and Andrew to stay away from the siblings with a far too uncertain future ahead of them.

...

Far away from the cheerful scene in Tokyo however, there was something far more sinister. In a high ceilinged cave, stalactites dangling from the ceiling, an eerie greenish light cascaded over the stone walls, creating the eerie light that illuminated the strange and malformed creatures. At the head of the room sat atop a throne of transparent crystal was a woman, surrounded by a cloud of auburn hair, a cruel leer set upon her exotic face. She was the most human in appearance of the creatures gathered, who although seemed to be vaguely humanoid were crossed with animals in insane colours making them even more monstrous in appearance. But of those gathered only four appeared to be actually human, four young men of noble appearance with the look of soldiers about them, each with the heads bowed, the eerie light causing their handsome faces to look cruel and unforgiving.

'Lord Jadeite, come forth and bow before me,' the woman whispered, her voice captivating the entire audience, quiet but echoing through the room with near expert projection.

The young man stiffened slightly, his face cupped with waves of blonde hair; not even appearing eighteen yet the wisdom in his frosty blue eyes seemed to suggest he was generations elder. He was tall, well-muscled and broad shouldered, a full-groan man by anyone's judgment. His pale skin was untouched by sunlight, yet still weather-beaten and worn down by the harsh wind that echoed through the cavern. He was dressed in a uniform of dark grey and black, the only touch of colour being the red lining on the stiff jacket which remained his only protection from the below zero temperatures surrounded them. He moved to the edge of the stairs of which the crystal throne sat, bowing deeply, and remaining in that position until he heard the woman's fingers tapping against the throne in impatience.

'Queen Beryl,' he said formally, politely, respectfully, yet his voice seemed to have a natural tone of cynicism and sardonic pleasure which removed all pleasantness from his words.

'You may be the least of the Shitennou,' Beryl addressed him with clear distaste, causing Jadeite to flinch and hold back a growl, 'but I still expected better from one of my generals. Your plan for gathering energy for the awakening of the great Metalia resulted in absolutely nothing to awaken her from the depths of her dormancy.'

Beryl's voice was smooth like honey, yet it shook with anger on every level. Her overlong red hair flew out at all angles, seeming to give her a near possessed look which was not helped by her ghostly pale skin. She had a sharp face with elven ears and angular, red eyes, a tiny mouth and pointed nose that made her appear almost like the evil queen from a fairy tail. She was beautiful admittedly, in her own twisted way, and it was all too clear that she knew it, with such an oddly revealing purple gown that even a

Under the intensity of her glare Jadeite's expression was clouded with aggravation and self-blame, making it all too clear his disappointment in himself for his clear failure, 'I am deeply sorry my Queen, I shall not fail you again-'

'What makes you think that you deserve another chance?' Beryl hissed angrily, gripping her bony fingers around her staff and smashing it into his stomach sending him recoiling backwards.

Jadeite hadn't moved to interfere with the blow, yet he seemed easily capable of defending himself. It was almost as if he hadn't thought for a second he had a right to stop the blow, he didn't have the right to defy her in even such a small way. He had seen it coming yet hadn't even stepped backwards to soften the attack, taking it full force without a grunt of pain even though Beryl seemed scarily strong.

He didn't even speak, staying there with his head bowed, waiting for further punishment when another voice spoke out, 'If I may speak my Queen?'

One of the gathered men had stepped forward, surrounded by a wave of overlong silver hair, his eyes pale blue and lensed with ice. He was extremely tall, borderline six and a half feet, in his mid-twenties, broad shoulders, strong jaw, large biceps and an air of authority so strong that it seemed to overshadow everyone else in the room but Beryl. His voice was hinted with an Arabic accent, with a quietly spoken power that didn't require emotion to make him sound intimidating. He word the same uniform as Jadeite did, but he seemed to have personalized it more than any of his fellow soldiers. It had pale blue lining on the jacket of which he seemed to have permanently forgotten about doing up the top button, and he'd draped a cape from his shoulders which seemed to single him out among the four.

'You may Lord Malachite, do you have a suitable punishment for his incompetence?' she drawled, examining her nails.

He moved forward closer towards Beryl, bowing but not half as deeply as his fellow soldier had, but even so Jadeite bowed his head with a certain level of respect to Malachite, but he seemed stunned at the same time when the head of the Shitennou said, 'I do not believe the failure of the plan was Jadeite's fault.'

Beryl ignored Jadeite's sharp intake of breath, and instead turned to Malachite with a curious contempt on her face, 'And why might that be general?'

'I believe it was an error in judgement not to remain on hand within the scheme, but it was the servant Morga who ruined the plot, she was not powerful enough to withstand the attack of the assailants who interfered with our plan,' Malachite explained in a deathly calm tone.

Beryl thought for a long moment before inclining her head slightly, musing allowed, 'I suppose that does carry an element of truth with it... Clearly Morga was not powerful enough if she was destroyed by a pathetic human.'

'If I may speak,' Jadeite said clearing his throat and at her careless nod spoke up, 'I do not believe the interferer was of human descent, I did take to the scene after I discovered what had become of our plot, and I discovered a small amount of blood that didn't seem to be of someone of Earth.'

'Did you identify it?' Malachite asked sharply, turning to Jadeite, clearly hearing this information for the first time.

'I took the traces I could gather to Zoisite for testing,' Jadeite replied, shaking his head to indicate they were yet to identify it.

The younger blonde man looked up from where he stood for only a moment long enough to say, 'The sample was too small, but it was far from human, the person was too powerful, the energy samples were near erratic in their movement. Female, but that's as much as I can tell you without a larger sample.'

Beryl nodded, a near nervous look on her face, biting her painted lips with sharpened teeth, 'If she is as much of a pest as the girl who took down our division in England...'

'Sailor_ V_,' Malachite reminded gruffly, 'She destroyed one of our best, Danburite, she died in the process thankfully. She disrupted the mission to the point it couldn't contribute alongside the other divisions to gather enough energy for Metalia to create the Youma.'

Jadeite saw his chance through the indecision and questions, 'I would like to volunteer myself to further investigate my Queen.'

'And how would you be able to do that Lord Jadeite?' Beryl practically purred, not liking the idea that someone had placed themselves of her major plot, Danburite's loss had been irrelevant to her, a one off incident she could handle, this was a different matter.

'This girl clearly knew where we were going to strike, if I set up another energy gathering scheme she'll appear once more. I'll be waiting for her. Ready to destroy her or at the very least find out what she's doing this for, and just where she is from,' Jadeite said still with his head bowed in respect for his Queen.

Beryl thought for a long moment, mouth slightly apart, eyes flickering as she considered his proposal, 'Very well Jadeite, immerse yourself in this plot, do not allow her to show up and finish another of my Youma.'

'I won't your majesty,' he said dutifully.

'And if she doesn't appear?' Beryl mused delicately.

'Than I have gathered more energy for the Great Metalia,' Jadeite replied simply.

Beryl nodded in approval before stating, 'Go forth and do as you say, and let she who dared defy the Negaverse fall fast and painful.'

* * *

**With Mina coming back into the country soon enough, Lyra's long list of responsibilities only growing and the Negaverse beginning to search and plan for Serena's destruction the plot of Dawnlight continues to thicken and expand, who knows what is next to come? You'll have to keep reading to find out.**

**This is the official reboot of my first fanfiction, Dawnlight, which I decided to give a big polish, redo parts of the storyline and upload once more with the quality writing ability I am capable of producing now. So readers both old and new, give me your feedback, let me know of what you think of my original characters, how I'm portraying characters from the original series, and anything you find interesting or note worthy in the unfolding chapters.**

**Thank you to my three lovely reviewers for the previous chapter! Allison Shorecoat: Versing Lyra doesn't seem to end well now does it. And I'm glad you thought so highly of the chapter and story so far, can't wait to see what you think of the next instalment. James Birdsong: It's great to see an old reviewer return, thanks and I'm glad you enjoyed it. LoveInTheBattlefield: I sure will, thanks for the review :D**

_**"It's the frailty of genius John it needs an audience-" Sherlock Holmes**_

**So with that noted, please favourite, follow and review!**

**xxo**

**Princess Selina**


	6. Struggle

**Chapter Six: Struggle**

Shiba Kōen had always been a rather miserable place in Lyra's opinion. It's school fees were so high due to its exclusive nature that you needed to have a borderline seven figure salary just to cover the expenses without going bankrupt. It was so upper-class that it had its own boarding school grounds, and every little thing they did was under high scrutiny by the general public. To further improve the school's image, they were constantly raising money for charity, but the raising bit could have been debated. Students who didn't want to participate in the constant fundraising could just get ever so loving mummy and daddy to write a check to get them out of it. And if it said anything about the school's caring level for the actual fundraising task, the amount of checks often quintupled the amount raised.

In comparison to public schools, even the chairs were more "upper-class" the chairs teachers got in public schools were considered not good enough for even the students. Every student had a cushioned, borderline armchair in front of the desk, which unlike any other school wasn't dripping with gum or covered in graffiti, they were polished and shined often made out of mahogany or oak to make them even more over the top ridiculous. They had five auditoriums for performances, plus two for assemblies including one with enough chairs to seat all the students and their families. They had so many sport areas and sporting equipment they probably could hold their own Olympics. If a student wanted it, they got it.

Part of what Lyra found so ridiculous though was the fact she was at the school in the first place. She certainly wasn't paying some grandiose sum of money, all she had to do was pay for her own pens and pencils plus an excursion or two if she wanted to go. Yet the school's quality of education was so low she was one of more than a dozen students Shiba Kōen had brought in to boost the overall average grade at the school. When she'd first moved in with Darien in Tokyo, she'd taken the entrance exam as a joke, she didn't actually think she'd done that well in it, she was set to go to a different school that Darien and her were both going to work part time jobs to cover.

But out of nowhere, she'd been asked to come in for an interview and she was confused as could be. They'd talked to her and started raving about her test mark because apparently it was one of the best they'd had in years. After finding out how many languages she spoke, that she could play musical instruments and was athletic in some respects, they practically begged her to join the school, offering a partial scholarship, and later a full one. At the time Lyra had just laughed at them, telling them it was ridiculous and she'd never join such a pampered and groomed bunch of snobs, but eventually they offered her more and more until she realised she couldn't refuse such an offer. Not that it hadn't taken them a while, she arrived a month late into the _second_ term because she'd been that stubborn.

So now she was at this school, she was at this school surrounded by people of an entirely different status than her. She didn't mean to say that there was a hierarchy in Japan, there wasn't a defined class system, god no, that was medieval. But because of their status, they'd been raised a different way, most of them appreciated money over anything else. A present made by hand and filled with love and care didn't mean anything to them, something where they'd drop a few grand on it did however. They lived in a world where money could solve every problem; they were taught the more money you had the more you should associate with them, the more they were worth. Unlike Lyra they didn't understand the concept of working their asses off for something; they didn't understand having to think for themselves rather than forming an opinion based off what those of their status had decided. They didn't even know the difference between cage eggs and free-range. That's how dense they were, though if any more than half of them knew how to crack an egg Lyra would have been surprised.

The egg analogy that Lyra had made within her own thoughts wasn't completely random, it was more so to do with the fact that she was in the middle of home-economics. A course with so few people in it Lyra had chosen it purely because she'd have to deal with less of her class mates. In fact due to an odd number she didn't even have to cook with a partner, and she was relieved. No one here actually had a particular interest in cooking; they were only here because it was considered a bludge subject that they'd have to put very little work into. And judging by just the attitude of her class mates to their current task, there was a pretty good reason why Lyra was her teacher's favourite.

'I'm not touching that! It is _so_ gross!' whined Sacha loudly.

Lyra barely glanced up from where she was up to her elbows in a raw beef mixture, rolling her eyes to see the bimbo prodding it with the manicured fingertips hidden under her rubber gloves with such a disgusted look on her face you'd think she was poking a mauled rabbit carcass, 'Oh for god's sake,' Lyra muttered under her breath.

'Miss Ames! Can't you do ours for us?' Rose pouted pathetically.

'Girls, I pulled the rubber gloves out on your request, you can wash your hands after, it isn't going to kill you,' the young teacher said delicately, trying to hide how at the end of the rope she was with this class.

'Why are we even making hamburgers!? They are _so_ fattening!' Sacha complained.

'It was _your_ idea,' Lyra snapped, whipping around to glare at the spoiled brat, 'We were supposed to be making ratatouille but you had to complain!'

'Well I didn't want to eat vermin thank you very much!' she insisted tossing her perfectly styled hair.

'Are you kidding me?! Are you legitimately serious right now?! Ratatouille is a vegan dish! It's a French, vegetable stew!' Lyra exclaimed ferociously, 'how can you be dense enough to think there's actually rat in Ratatouille?!'

'How was I supposed to know that?' Sacha snapped reddening slightly realising what she'd done.

'Oh I don't know, the fact Miss Ames demonstrated the recipe on Friday?' Lyra offered, pulverising the meat mixture in front of her.

'Oh stand down bitch,' Rose snapped, the vicious brunette hissed whipping around in defence of her partner, 'There's a reason you don't have a partner, no one wants to be near you, so shut up and but out.'

'But if I but out however will you learn?' Lyra asked in mock concern.

'Lyrana,' Miss Ames warned, trying to hide her smirk.

Lyra blinked at her innocently before starting to make patties out of the hamburger mixture, noting internally that no one in her class, even if there were less than a dozen of them, had even starting mixing it. Too busy being grossed out by the raw meat factor, well except for the two boys in the class who were too busy checking out Rose and Sacha, who by this point had gone back to gossiping about something. Lyra ignored them for the most part, continuing her work, popping the burger patties into the oven, but that was when she caught a snippet of their conversation.

'So did you and Toby hook up on the weekend?' Sacha was giggling to Rose.

'You know how he is; I mean you dated him to. No matter how drunk he is, it's gonna go the same way,' Rose replied, 'this time he was like-

Lyra gagged silently, moving to wash off her hands and start grilling her burger buns, determined not to hear another word of the conversation, 'Lyra, I really wish you would take that bangle off while cooking,' Miss Ames commented, wondering towards her favourite student.

'And I wish I wasn't constantly surrounded by over-sexualised, bratty snobs, but I guess neither of us are going to get our way,' Lyra countered making the young woman smile, hiding it under her cropped blonde hair.

'You know as a teacher I'm probably supposed to tell you against saying things like that,' she muttered.

'Which is the only reason you can't tell me that as a person you agree with my opinions on them,' Lyra offered in under tone.

The home-economics teacher smirked and raised her fingers to her lips, but then glancing up she noticed someone had pulled at their phone, making her growl in annoyance and stride towards them. Lyra sighed under her breath; Miss Ames was one of the few teachers that didn't hate her, more accurately one of the few people in this school who didn't hate her. She didn't care what Lyra snapped at other students as long as it had a grain of truth to it, which it tended to, and she'd let her make enough for two rather than the single portion she was supposed to get. It was a good system seeing as Lyra's grades were half the reason the school hadn't scrapped the course; well that and they had built a very shiny kitchen for it. Unfortunately there had to be other people around to ruin it.

Monday morning, first period, and she couldn't wait for this week to be over already.

...

By fourth period Lyra's head was slumped against the desk, staring at the charcoal pencils taunting her a few centimetres away. Among Shiba Kōen's many non-sensical rules, it included a forced enrolment in art for at least the first term of every year. Apparently it taught students control, to pay attention to detail and to visualise images. Lyra thought it was all bullshit essentially. It was all well and good for people who were good at, or at the very least enjoyed art, but for someone who knew even her stick figures were lopsided, and the only thing she could successfully draw without stuffing it up was a butterfly, it was a pain to be stuck in a situation like this. That and their teacher was the type who thought his subject was the only important one, and that everything else was essentially useless. It didn't exactly make Lyra the most enthusiastic person in their learning environment.

She was half asleep when she heard the ruler smack against the table, and she jolted up slightly, glaring at Mr. Graman who looked down at her in disgust saying in a very obviously put on French accent, 'Miss Franklin, what are you doing slacking off in my class?'

The way he extended the "i" in Franklin to an "ee" sound, the "v" he had inserted at the front of what and the way he clipped the last sound of a majority of his words was just insulting to an entire nation of people, so Lyra decided to take the moment to say, 'Tais-toi porc faux-français!'

Mr. Graman quirked an eyebrow at her in confusion, clearly not understanding a word, no matter how simple, of what he claimed was his first language, 'Pardon?' he asked with such a thick fake accent that Lyra couldn't help but roll her eyes.

'Wow... vous devez avoir une certaine con-artiste à avoir obtenu cet emploi, parce que la dernière fois que j'ai vérifié vous sûr que l'enfer ne sont pas français ou bien d'un acteur,' she offered

She'd called him a faux-French pig ten seconds ago. And now she had just said straight to his face that he must be some sort of expert con man to land this job because his attempt to play French was just pathetic. Mr. Graman tossed his head snootily and walked away, flat out ignoring her statement, not that he'd had much of a choice. She noticed with lack of interest Toby and his little group of cronies hastily moving to look like they were doing their work, well except for Toby who didn't notice till it was too late.

'Mr. Brown.'

Toby looked up feeling the impending punishment looking up with an innocent and charming expression, 'Yes Mr. Graman?'

'How's your silhouette interpretation coming along Mr. Brown?' he asked through his teeth, seeming to be one of half a dozen people completely unaffected by Toby's "charm."

'I just needed to make sure I had the right idea before I really got to work sir, you can't rush perfection,' Toby said smoothly, with an easy going smile that would have worked on practically anyone.

But Mr. Graman wasn't biting and he snapped, 'You are already failing my class Mr Brown, do not go so far to think you're fooling anyone with that.'

'Wait what? Failing?' Toby asked sharply, clearly hearing this for the first time.

But Mr. Graman ignored him and instead said, 'Now I expect to have that drawing by the end of the day, go sit over at that table with Miss Franklin, you will get no work done at this table.'

'Woah, woah, woah, you think I'm going to get any work done near that-'

'Now Mr. Brown,' he snapped, tone completely unforgiving.

Toby gaped at Mr. Graman before muttering a curse under his breath and picking up his bag, paper and charcoal, walking over to the single table where Lyra sat alone. Lyra looked up seeming to mouth "seriously?" to the sky, before turning to glare at him. He pulled the stool as far down the table away from her as possible, chucking his bag under the table, and sitting down, before meeting her glare stubbornly.

'Isn't being stuck in the same room as you punishment enough without having to be placed in such an annoying close proximity?'

Toby gave her a flinching smile, before glancing at Lyra's long abandoned silhouette drawing, 'wow, you have the artistic talent of an infant walrus attempting a paint by numbers.'

'I'm sorry my dear for you to insult me I must first value your opinion, nice try though,' Lyra said scathingly, before turning away from him forcefully.

'Stop being such a pig headed, irritating-' Toby began but all of a sudden there was a call over the loud speaker.

**'Could Miss Lyrana Franklin please report to the head masters office immediately.'**

Lyra froze in her spot as everyone turned to look at her, and slowly she realised she'd have to go. She had no idea what this could be about, she hadn't injured someone lately, and they couldn't possibly know about the racoon incident, so what could this possibly be about?

'Miss Franklin, you must go to the office now,' Mr. Graman said, 'I will expect your silhouettes first thing tomorrow.'

Lyra nodded stiffly, before getting to her feet, and glancing at Toby, hissing angrily, before walking out the door 'I have no idea what this is about, but whatever it is I'm positive it is your fault.'

...

Lyra sat in the front foyer of Shiba Kōen's office, silently musing about all the times she'd ended up in there within the past term. There was the time she broke a guy's thumbs for slapping her arse as he walked past her in the corridor. There was the time she'd threatened her English teacher for trying to teach them the American way to pronounce basil. Throw in the time she'd crash tackled Toby over a stair railing for daring to say "with the rate your parents let you get away with you must be daddy's little angel." She had absolutely no regret for taking the fire for that one, and given the circumstances she'd gotten off pretty easily despite the two or three dozen people who'd seen her do it.

'Miss Franklin? Principle Nakhoda will see you now,' the receptionist said after about twenty minutes.

Lyra sighed and walked up the stairs into the Head Master's office. He was a middle-aged man, who looked like the stereotypical Japanese business man, except with even worse forehead wrinkles. Head Master Nakhoda was meticulous to the point where everything at his room had to be at a precise ninety degree angle. His role was to be the figure head of the school, the spitting image of a leader and scholar that every rich parent in the city would want to trust their child's education with. Like how one deputies job was to charm donations out of every organisation and society in the country, and it was the others to preach charity and maintain the school's image on an international scale. Lyra and Darien had long referred to them as the three stooges, due to the incomprehensibly large amount of objects they wished to smack them round the head with.

'You wished to see me sir?' Lyra asked, only begrudgingly adding the last word, and having to force the polite tone.

'Yes Miss Franklin, now how is one of our finest students?' he asked, sounding like he was trying to sell her a washing machine.

'Looking forward to the trimester break sir,' she said, wondering why he hadn't accused her of something already.

'Ah yes, only a week and a half to go. I do presume though you'll continue to study hard during your break?' he questioned.

'Of course head master,' she lied effortlessly, 'And as much as I hate to be blunt with you, is there a particular reason you have called me out of class at such a random interval?'

'Why Miss Franklin, is it so wrong for a Head Master to be checking in on his academically gifted students?' he questioned.

'_Academically_ gifted huh? Which means this centres around a subject which you don't believe to be necessarily intellectual, more so creative or athletic. Or is this about my attitude again?' Lyra sighed, dropping the polite tone.

'Miss Franklin, it is nothing of the sort, I just received word that you have applied for benefits given to a volunteering student, is that much true?'

'...Yes sir.'

'And what shall you be doing for this volunteer work?' he asked.

'A local martial arts instructor broke his leg in a sparring match with one of his students, I'm filling in, unpaid, as a temporary replacement for the next month or so,' Lyra explained, not feeling like she should have to, 'Is there a problem with that? I'm taking up nine classes, add in my own martial arts training, school time, my chores, tutoring-'

'You tutor someone?' he interrupted.

'Yes I do, but all of that plus the extensive workload I get for being in the top classes, along with all the work I'm supposed to do for music, it was just too much to be able to breathe. So I decided to apply for volunteer relief.'

'You are one of our scholarship students Miss Franklin, we do expect you to be taking on the full extent of your work. That includes all homework and assignment tasks without extensions. This means your application has to be taken under additional scrutiny,' Principal Nakhoda, 'We ask that you see if you can cut down on other aspects of your life, for example you said you had chores, couldn't you merely ask your parents to cut down on the amount you have to do at home?'

'Sir, if you actually bothered to remember anything about your ever so important scholarship students, you'd remember that I don't live with my parents. My brother and I have to divvy up the work we need to do around the house fairly, he has a part time job and he is in the middle of a university degree. It wouldn't be fair for me to slack off and make everything harder on him.' Lyra's tone became more increasingly stubborn with every word.

Principal Nakhoda frowned for a moment and typed something in on his computer before nodding and replying, 'Forgive me Miss Franklin, you were orphaned shortly before applying for a scholarship under your new legal guardian if the records are correct?'

'If you must put it so bluntly than yes,' Lyra said through her teeth, 'Frankly with the amount of part time jobs I've had to pick up over time it's a miracle I haven't had to apply for this before in some shape or form.'

'...I see...' the head master said taking down a note or two on his computer, no longer looking at her, 'We'll take this into consideration for your request. You may return to class.'

Lyra turned to go, anger pulsing through her system before she turned filled with fury spitting out, 'I could give you a list of at least sixteen students just in my grade, off the top of my head who are abusing the system. And those are only the ones whose names I've bothered to learn. You might want to take into consideration the fact I didn't _have_ to come here. I didn't want to come here, you begged me for months to join your school because you aren't infusing your students with a good enough work ethic for your school to look like any sort of decent educational institute,' she no longer knew why she was even talking, but he had gotten a rise out of her when he'd dare bring up her parents, he was going to have to pay for it, 'I say stop picking at me and start looking at the other students in your school who get away with doing less than the bare minimum. If a student is failing a course they face the consequences, and they have to work it off themselves not get daddy dearest to write a fat check. This school is pathetic. All it does is teach students that they are superior to everyone else, how to cut corners, how to manipulate everyone around them, and either they learn to do it really well or they get slapped in the face with the full force of reality the moment they step out into the real world.'

'Miss Franklin-'

'No. I'm not done I have been at this school for what is approaching three years, and before that I would never have believed the kind of rich, self-obsessed, sheltered snobs you are nurturing! You think they're special? Or at the very least you want to make their parents think that you can make that happen? Then maybe you should make them special, because they're not, they're just rich' Lyra hissed angrily, 'You know how they look at scholarship students like me? Like we're dirt. And if we don't follow their rules than we get made into total and utter outcasts and there is no bigger one than me! I don't have friends here for a reason! The closest I have to a friend is some random kid in my homeroom who I exchange "you've got to be kidding me" looks whenever those idiots brats come swaggering in, talking about the stupid stuff they do!

'How dare you speak to me-'

'They talk about having sex, getting drunk, getting high and all this other illegal crap in the middle of the class room, and the teacher's just ignore it, and you know why?! Because you've let them know they can get away with it, they spend more time here in one day than with their parents spend with them in the average month. Which essentially means to me that you have some sort of authority to make them less idiotic. Hell! Less than a month ago I heard one of them mention they crashed a car through a shop window, without a licence and paid some street kid to take the fall and say they stole the car! They were laughing about it in the middle of a class. Because they know they're untouchable!'

'What is the point of this humongous speech Miss Franklin?!' the Head Master demanded.

Lyra breathed for the first time in several minutes as she finally said, 'You know what? There isn't one, because nothing I say is going to change anything in this place, this disgusting, pathetic place. I'm going home, don't be surprised when you find that I've been marked absent in a remainder of my classes for the day.'

And turning on her heel, slamming the door behind her, Lyra left the room. She knew she hadn't accomplished anything. She just needed to complain once in a while. A toxic environment like this place would get to anyone with a brain and a good heart after a while.

...

It was Tuesday morning now, second period. The lesson hadn't even started yet, their music teacher was too busy talking to Toby about a song he was writing, and giving him all kinds of advice that he was barely listening to. The one thing she didn't mind about music is that her teacher never got angry at her for composing in the middle of class, a fact which she usually took advantage of. She had figured out some of the lyrics to the tune she'd been writing on Saturday, she called it "the seraph," and was finishing off the last verse or so.

Lyra's cooking and music teachers were the only ones who liked her, hell Miss Nymphara positively adored her. Then again, Miss Nyphara didn't dislike anyone, she was just incapable of it. She acted more immature than most of the kids in her music class and that was saying something. She was the kind of teacher who remembered everything about her students, and was more like one of their friends than a responsible adult figure.

'Okay everyone, if I could just get your attention for a moment?' Miss Nymphara asked, clapping her hands, looking really excited, and everyone turned from their conversations to look over at her, 'Okay I have a huge announcement for all of you, and I know some of you have been waiting all term to hear about this.'

This actually managed to shut the entire class up, and even Lyra put down her pen for a moment turning to look at her with mild interest. Miss Nymphara looked positively psyched, in fact she looked more thrilled than the day Lyra had mentioned she could play the harp, and that was saying something. Shifting between either foot, pausing to further increase the tension in the room like she was about to announce the winner of some exclusive contest.

'We are about to start preparations for the annual Shiba Kōen showcase!' she trilled out after a long moment.

A massive amount of talking broke out at that moment, with everyone looking excited, they really had been looking forward to this all year. The showcase was annual fundraiser for charity that showcased the musical talent of the students at the school, the reason that everyone, except Lyra who really couldn't care less, was completely and utterly pumped for this, was because of one little catch. It was a live broadcast on national TV. The amount of money that went into producing it was insane, and if you ended up as one of the solo artists, you were near guaranteed a career in the music industry the second you wanted it. Hell, some people dropped out of school within about a week of the showcase airing.

'Now, this year as the teacher in charge,' Miss Nymphara said sounding far too happy about that title, 'Seeing as this year group is the eldest in the school it'll be featuring your year more than anyone else, the others may help in bits and pieces but only when required. And given the strong points of this year group, I've decided that our ten solo performers... will all be singers.'

Kids all over the classroom were hyperly talking, all of them were convinced they were going to be one of the soloists, but Miss Nymphara was still talking, 'Now I know all of you are excited, especially given the classical angle the showcase has taken the last few years, but this one will be thoroughly more modern. We have very few classically trained singers so we're just going to...'

Lyra blanked out after that, she didn't care overly much, she knew she wasn't going to do anything much with the whole thing. She was a pianist, she would have to sit their playing the backing music for obnoxious performer after obnoxious performer. The next forty five minutes of the class were all spent on talking about the showcase, how they could audition, when rehearsals would be, how this was considered an assignment, and only at the teachers prompting what charity organisations they should fund for. When the bell rang Lyra was the first one on her feet, packing up her stuff, even as a majority of the class lingered to ask more questions. She was almost out the door though when Miss Nymphara stopped her.

'Lyra darling, if you could just stay back for a moment? I need to talk to you about something,' Sighing to herself she stepped back in the door, and waited till the classroom cleared before the music teacher eventually came up to her, 'Now I noticed you weren't paying attention most of the lesson.'

'Well seeing as its usually everyone else who's not paying attention I suppose you can forgive for that one,' Lyra sighed impatiently.

'Just everyone was so thrilled, they've been waiting to be part of the showcase since they got to this school. Yet you weren't even paying attention when I was explaining when the auditions would be,' she said with the tone of a worrying mother.

'Why would I? It's not like I'm going to audition.'

'You have an amazing voice Lyra,' Miss Nymphara pleaded.

'Remind me when I sang in front of you?' Lyra asked irritably, not liking where this conversation was headed.

'When you got irritated with the piano in here so you started fiddling with the wires and retuning the entire thing,' the teacher reminded.

Lyra was surprised the teacher had brought it up let alone remembered it, it had happened over a year ago, 'Miss, I'm not going to be a soloist, I'm not auditioning for it.'

'Lyra, you're wasting so much of your talent. I could see you as the lead female vocalist-'

'Yeah that's in the same universe where I bump and grind with that kid who eats his own earwax,' Lyra snapped, 'I'm not interested, I don't want to be yet another front for this school, make it look better than it actually is. I have absolutely no desire to work constantly with the jerks and bitches who try to make my life a living hell, going through that for months is not worth two seconds in a spotlight I don't actually care about.'

'But Lyra-'

'But nothing, it's how it is Miss Nymphara. I won't audition for the stupid showcase,' Lyra said stubbornly before walking out the door, hardly taking notice of the disappointed look on her teacher's face.

...

You'd think they'd have learnt by now. Seriously, after the first time you'd think the PE staff would have spread the word so that no one was stupid enough to pit Lyra and Toby against each other in sport. It was last period, and after nothing but snapping at each other all day it clearly wasn't going to end well. They were playing basketball, and no only had the sub they had for PE put them on opposing teams, rather than rotating them in and out of teams to avoid such a clash of the titans that was no doubt about to unfold, she had also made them team captains and let them pick their own teams. Seriously bad idea.

Toby had only done what was expected of him pick his girlfriend plus three of his steroid filled buddies for his team. Lyra had picked the people that were less likely to try to peg the ball at her head and claim a fumbled pass every time they got the chance. In fact Lyra and Toby even ended up in the toss up against each other and unfortunately his natural height got the better of her and he managed to knock it towards one of his own players, who much to Lyra's fortune, happened to be Rose. It wasn't to say Rose wasn't athletic, it's just that she was less hard to wrestle the ball from, which is exactly what Lyra managed to do.

Lobbing the ball up the court it landed directly in the hands of Ken Sato who seeing as he had some sort of wild delusion that Lyra would sleep with him one day, was eager to impress. He dribbled it up the court before getting stuck, by another one of Toby's drones, and chucking it over to one of the girls Lyra had selected, who looked at the ball in her hands, clearly having no idea what to do with it, and seeing Rose charging up to her, squeaked and only just managed to avoid travelling as she hastily bounced it away.

'Trinity, here!' Lyra yelled, not wanting to have to put up with it anymore.

Grateful to get rid of what was making her a target the girl chucked it to Lyra, who had to lunge to catch it before going to shoot. But just as she went airborne she someone else jumped and slapped the ball down, narrowly missing her head. Glaring at Toby for getting in her way, she looked over at the teacher with a look of "seriously, how have you not called a foul?" but Toby's team mates had already run down the court, passing it between them.

Lyra felt the anger pass through her and she bolted down the court, managing to get there just in time to smack the ball out of the shooters hands before calling back to her team, 'Try to keep up,' and began running up the court, dribbling one handedly, weaving around everyone who tried to get in her way.

But as she got closer to the ring she realised Toby was running up the court beside her between her and the basket, shoving her as discreetly as possible with his shoulder as he tried to intercept the ball. Trying to cross in front of him, Lyra moved forward but she mistimed it and slammed directly into his stomach. Sent splaying to the ground, the ball rolling away, she looked up angrily at Toby unable to help but scream.

'Oh for god's sake, what is your problem!?'

'Darling this isn't netball, try to match someone stronger than you and you're gonna end up on the ground,' he said patronizingly, mockingly offering his hand to help her up.

She slapped it away as violently as possible, even as she heard the girl on her team comment, 'I dunno, I've seen netball games were two feet of hair extensions were ripped out.'

Toby gave a single look to the girl who closed her mouth with a snap, not wanting to say anything else that could possibly anger the ever precious _golden boy_. Lyra got up, and snatched the ball off the sub who was holding it out to her from the sideline. She pegged it forcefully back onto the court, feeling the anger pulse through her entire system. She hated the teachers. She hated the students. She hated the school full stop. She just couldn't wait for this week to be over.

...

By Wednesday morning Lyra was just about as over school as she could possibly get. It was about this point in the week when she was forced to remember she wasn't even half way through the week and it already was about annoying as it could get. The only thing she had to look forward to was that she was having a tutoring session with Serena this afternoon. But that was still six and a half hours away, it was still only homeroom.

She could hear Toby and his lackeys chatting about their plans for the weekend. She knew that was the only thing that she and that group had in common, they all couldn't wait for the school day to end. Yesterday afternoon hadn't been too bad at all though, once she got out of school she managed to meet up with Lizzie, and the two of them had gone to a local pool to relax and enjoy the summer heat. Darien and Andrew had very surprisingly turned down coming with them, even though both of them had the day off, which was kind of suspicious. Although with Lyra's upcoming sixteenth it wasn't suspicious at all, honestly those boys couldn't plan something in secret no matter how hard they tried. Their attempt at a surprise part for Lizzie earlier that year was so dismally incognito that she'd guessed what was going on about a month before hand.

Lyra barely noticed the room getting quiet out of nowhere from where she was staring out the window, in fact she didn't notice at all until her absent mind caught the phrase, 'Yeah I spent a while abroad but I'm back now.'

Lyra whipped around almost too fast, it was all too clear to everyone that she'd recognised the voice. Not that they'd know why, as far as they knew Lyra and the returning student had never been particularly close. But slowly eyes began to look back and forth between her and the new arrival, processing her reaction to who'd just walked in the door. Mouth wide open, eyes wide, practically twitching as she tried to process what to feel, as slowly Mina looked up from where she was giving her papers to the teacher, eyes sparking as she looked at the school's outcast.

Mina's response wasn't a surprise to anyone in the room as she looked Lyra up and down as she said, 'Well look at you Franklin, are you as much of a royal bitch as I remember? Forgive me it has been a year and a half since I was in the same room as you. Remember me?'

Lyra looked like she was guarding herself very carefully as she got to her feet and said, 'Of course I remember you, I'm not as much as a dipstick as you. And of course I'm not, I'm ten times worse.'

There was a long pause until what by Shiba Kōen standards was completely unthinkable, the two girls stared at each other glaring, before suddenly slight smiles started to leak through on either girls face. That was when Mina started to laugh and Lyra's expression of distaste and disinterest broke and they were standing their laughing which was confusing the hell out of the students watching. But it completely blindsided them as both girls positively beamed at each other, almost looking like they were about to cry as they practically ran to hug one another.

* * *

**So Lyra's school life may be one hateful day after the next, but maybe with a friend like Mina around she might just be able to handle it after all. But just how easy will it be to keep her secret now that her best friend isn't on the other side of the world? And what will happen for Serena now that she might just have a helpful ally in the country, ready and waiting to join the fight.**

**Six chapters into the rewrite of Dawnlight and I am already astonished by the amount of support I've gotten on this rewrite. Even if a lot of it is for my resident psycho stalker fan Little Bit Loopy, who I thank once again for her long, detailed and insightful reviews into the life of the characters of Dawnlight. I'd also like to thank LoveInTheBattlefield for their review, and I'm glad to keep hearing from you. A thank you also has to go to the new favourite and follow I received from DragonStar22 as well as the follow from Sorel Y and I hope to hear a little more insight from the two of you soon enough.**

**Dear readers, next chapter you can anticipate Lyra and Mina might have a lot of catching up to do, but also don't forget that Jadeite has promised to trap his new foe, so just what will he be up to? **

**So if you enjoyed this chapter be sure to let me know, review, favourite, follow, the more I get the happier I'll be and the more I'll write. Cheers my lovelies, I'll see you next time**

**xxo**

**Princess Selina**


	7. Reunite

**Chapter Seven: Reunite**

_As Jadeite left the radio station, he looked around carefully before he teleported, landing back in his quarters in the Negaverse. It was a series of several rooms each lavishly decorated, he was living like a king even when if his superiors still had better living conditions. It was black and dark, with very little colour hinting the room was musky and dim, only the slightest amount of his signature red here or there._

_He moved to his desk, and with a blast of power he slowly shaped another of the energy sapping devices, shaping under his expert control. The Negaverse had already sucked one women dry of all of her life energy, and every time she gained some energy back, it would take that away to. She would be giving her energy to the Negaverse till she either died or they took the flower off her. And he knew it would be a long time till the humans saw the connection. _

_Smirking to himself, he materialised a package around the new flower and using his highly advanced telepathy, he sent it hurtling into space and to the doorstep of the new target. This target hadn't been random of course; he'd simply scanned through the letters with his abilities, not bothering to read them, and selected the one with the highest residual energy traces. The higher the energy, the more valuable prey they were for the Negaverse. And with his next victim already heading for a life of enslavement, he walked to his bed and sunk down into it musing to himself, laughing the way Beryl always did. He was happy to serve the exotic, genius beauty; that had brought his potential out of the mundane shell of a human he used to be. He wouldn't fail her again. He would gather as much energy from these pathetic saps as he could to serve the Negaverse._

_And if whoever foiled his last plan and made him fail Beryl showed up; well he knew it wouldn't end well for them._

In a temple high on a hill in the centre of Tokyo, a raven haired girl tore herself away from her barbaric nightmare. Rubbing away the tears, which she couldn't understand why they had gathered, from her purple eyes as she sat up on the thin mattress looking around the mostly empty room. Glancing at the alarm clock it occurred to her that it had only been a mere half hour since she'd finally drifted off to sleep. She knew by now that it would take her at least another hour at the minimum to get back to sleep.

This was only one of several dreams she'd had lately, all featuring the same man. Each dream was despicably horrible, and made her feel hauntingly awake, yet alive. She didn't know why they scared her, she didn't know why they made her weep and be afraid to go back to sleep. She didn't understand it at all; and it made her wonder if her minor psychic abilities were starting to take over her unconscious mind.

'What's the matter with you Raye?' she murmured to herself, pushing back her fringe, before laying back to sleep, 'Just go back to bed.'

...

A deliriously happy look had crossed Lyra's face as she slowly came out of her and Mina's embrace. The two of them were laughing, near hysterical with joy, unable to believe that they were really seeing each other. Mina was crying very slightly, entire face split in two with a beam, eyes positively shining. But the bell rang out, and before any of the gaping individuals staring at them could say a word, Lyra still giggling looked at the teacher and questioned her:

'Is that all the paperwork she needs to give you?'

The roll call teacher nodded, even the teacher knew how peculiar a scene like this was. Probably due to the fact that two years previously this teacher had witnessed Lyra very aggressively having labelled Mina a self-obsessed bitch destined to end up as either a trophy wife or a stripper, possibly both. Mina had responded by trying to hit her while Lyra dodged around laughing at her, yet now they couldn't have looked more ecstatic to see each other.

But neither girl paid any attention to the judgemental stares, and with their arms linked they exited the classroom, still with ridiculous grins on their faces, 'What are you doing here Mina? You were in England last week! How could you not tell me you were coming back!?'

'I only found out Friday night that I was coming home, and when I found out how quickly we were leaving, I wanted to surprise you. Is that such a crime?' Mina was beaming.

'Oh I am so getting you for that one,' Lyra giggled, 'let me guess, my dear brother was helping you? He's been up to something lately.'

'Okay, just a tad, I just needed to clear your afternoon and get your class schedule without you finding out about it,' Mina smirked.

'Evil!' Lyra insisted, still positively beaming, '...Why did you want my schedule?'

'So I can ensure that we're in as many classes as possible together, duh! Apart from your wacko cooking class we're in everything together. And that's only because I _need_ to take sewing, where else and I going to have access too far too much free material?'

'Let's not forget the last time you cooked you nearly took out your kitchen and half the living room,' Lyra reminded

'So it was one itty bitty house fire, does that mean I need to be exiled from the kitchen for life?'

'No, but seeing as it was the third fire you'd caused, I think it is a pretty good case to keep you away from anything more complicated than a microwave,' Lyra teased effortlessly.

'My mother won't even let me use one of those!' Mina complained.

'...Did you put a tin in there?'

'One time!'

'I'm guessing at least four,' Lyra smirked.

'Eleven if you include foil but that is _hardly_ the point,' Mina couldn't help but beam.

Lyra fell against the nearby lockers laughing, unable to help herself, the simple feeling of joy that came from being on the same continent as her best friend, but that was when someone interrupted their moment, 'Mina.'

Mina froze slightly turning to face Toby with a forced innocence into her expression, and Lyra stopped her laughing and feeling protective in an instant she hissed, 'Thought I heard something on my bastard radar, should have known it was you Nudnik. You nearly blew up the machine.'

Toby flat out ignored Lyra, before turning to look at Mina, a look of pure contempt lighting his features, 'Mina, I don't know what you are doing with this scorpion, but I suggest if you have any shame or decency left you'll step away.'

Toby was surrounded by his friends, or more accurately his cronies and lackeys who lived to serve his every whim. His girlfriend Rose, who had hitched her skirt up higher than ever today, leered at them viciously, dangling off his arm like a man purse. The other boys stood in an almost rehearsed formation designed to make Toby look even taller and better looking than usual. With other girls who'd come to watch the show, standing about them, already whispering and gossiping. Mina however stood frozen, not sure what to do or how to react, her joy in being reunited with her best friend melting away as she was forced to confront the issues of her returning to Japan. And even worse, a majority of the reason she had left.

'You know what, I know the scorpion line was supposed to be an insult, but personally I love them. My favourite animal in fact, it's nature's way of saying screw you, I'm going to combine lobsters, spiders, wasps and nightmares. And I very much doubt any of those things don't share my same hatred for you,' Lyra said effortlessly, stepping forward, placing herself between Mina and the other kids, 'If memory serves, Mina once told me about when you got stung in between the eyes by a wasp when you were a kid, entire face swelled up. Apparently you looked a cross between a jack o'lantern and a prune. Clearly the effects never quite wore off.'

If looks could kill Toby would have just been dead several dozen times over, but he looked merely unfazed, 'Oh shut your mouth Franklin, you may have finally been taken to the wacky-shack and given human emotions, but I wasn't talking to you, I was talking to Mina. You need to back off.'

'And if I don't? Let's not forget how many times I've pinned you to the ground and made you squeal like a piglet with an ear infection,' Lyra hissed viciously.

But from behind Toby stepped forward another boy, who was looking Mina up and down rather pervertedly, 'Wow Mina, you really have grown up haven't you, somehow, you got sexier and may I just say-'

'Toby, if you'd like to control your future sex offender there, I know simply from the look on your face that you find Hiro just as repulsive as I do,' Lyra hissed viciously.

Toby raised his hand, making Hiro take a step regretfully backwards, looking more like some sort of dictator instead of a petty teenager, but he then decided that he might as well say something cruel enough that would either make Lyra back out or more likely, attack him, 'Attack my friends all you want, but I know exactly what's going on in that twisted little brain of yours. Somehow through what I'm assuming is a side effect of the various animal tranquillizers that you must be on to have stopped you murdering half the city, you have convinced yourself that Mina is in some way important to you. A friend even, but look at her. How can you be absolutely positive that she's suffering from the same crazed delusion? I know Mina, she's frozen up, she doesn't know where to turn, quite frankly, she hasn't made up her mind what to do, who she is loyal to. So are you absolutely positive that you're not just misreading the situation? Humans aren't exactly your area of expertise even if being an insufferable know-it-all is.'

The fact that Toby had managed to get the whole speech out without being interrupted was a clear sign of just how much his words had affected Lyra. She stood there, starting to look less defensive of Mina, and more defensive of herself. Her fists clenched so tight that veins were popping out all along the ridge of her knuckles. She was breathing through her teeth, trying to make herself sure of Mina's change of person, that she valued Lyra's friendship as much as she valued hers. But before anyone could do anything, other than Toby looking positively victorious for a split second, Mina finally spoke.

'Don't know how you picked up Toby on your bastard radar Lyra, if memory serves it's his brother that was the bastard and Toby was just part of the guise of a happy marriage his parents tried to perpetuate. Although it could have been something his gold-digging mother cooked up. What were your words when you were telling about this Toby? I think the phrasing was proposed over the pregnancy stick, but I can't be sure, would you like to remind me?'

Toby's eyes widened, a little vein signalling his discomfort twitching above his eyebrow as he half began, 'Mina-'

But now that her first shot was out of her mouth, she seemed to have completely forgotten what was holding her back, now adding, 'And as for how well you apparently know me, I haven't talked to you in nearly eighteen months, and a hell of a lot can change between now and then. I'm pretty sure the reason you initially told me we could talk so much anymore was because your girlfriend at the time... was it Dana? I can't remember, didn't you like having such a close female friend. Half a dozen identical sluts later and you still haven't found anyone willing to put up with as much crap as I did for you. But I guess they had a point when they tried to keep you away from me, the amount of crap I've gone through for you.'

'Mina-'

'So much blackmail material so little time, I doubt any of your pathetic friends have realised that the moment you have a drop of alcohol in your system you will tell anyone anything they want to know. Hell the amount of things you have told me, I remember the first time you drank, stole the flask of tequila from your mother's purse, which for the record, she always has, and drunk the lot. You somehow stumbled back here, tripped security alarms, vomited in the swimming pool, broke a statue and paid off the security guards to wipe the incident from the cameras all in the space of about three hours.'

The look on Lyra's face was positively priceless with joy, while Toby looked so tempted just to say something to shut Mina up to the point that she would never cross him again, but he seemed unable to form words, and Mina continued, 'I have photos, videos, and an endless list of blackmail material. Unfortunately I could hand over to the person with enough of a vendetta against you to give them to whoever she believes has the potential to destroy you. From the dysfunctional hardly in the country parents, the far too eager to break the bullying circle principle, the great aunt whose money you know you'd be relying on if your parents cut you off. You'd be gutless enough to do that right Lyra?'

'And get this flea bag out of my life; of course, it would be a pleasure if he provoked me enough. But darling, I think you've scared him enough for this morning, time to get to class,' Lyra said, pulling on Mina's arm.

'But Lyra-' Mina began to complain.

But her friend had that grin back on her face as she began to lead her best friend away, 'You're on your way to earning back the title of Queen Bitch, which has been officially mine for ages, and I pity the person who tries to outdo me.'

…

Serena for once was on time to class, it was a minor miracle, but after Luna had clawed her this morning she'd got up and had made it in plenty of time. She was talking to Kuri about the massive scratches Luna had left on her arms, when she heard her phone start ringing, with the bell yet to go she excused herself and went to stand outside in the corridor, glancing at the caller ID, and surprised to see Lyra was calling her. But remembering she had a tutoring session with her this afternoon she figured that she was just calling to remind her.

'Hello?' she asked.

**'Hey Meatball head it's-'**

'Whoa, whoa, whoa! Darien? Why are you on Lyra's phone?... And stop calling me that!' she protested.

**'Calm your farm clutzoid, I just figured I should do you a favour and tell you your little tutoring session, or more accurately math for dummies, is cancelled-'**

'What? Is this some kind of prank you're pulling? Because it's not very funny, I know you don't like me but at least try to respect that your sister's trying to help someone out and you know, be a decent human being unlike some egotistical jackasses,' Serena growled, only guessing that Darien was just trying to end her association with his sister.

**'For god's sake, I'm just telling you that Lyra is probably going to forget that she's supposed to be tutoring you today. Her best friend is back in the country and I very much doubt that she's going to think about anything else but her, okay?'**

Serena paused, realising that she probably shouldn't have assumed the worst of him, even when his opening line was wreathed with as many insults as his was, 'Oh right... thanks... I guess... why did you take Lyra's phone?'

**'And waste my credit on you? Yeah right,'** and with that Darien hung up.

Serena pulled the phone away from her ear, not sure how to react to that conversation, and no doubt still had a strange look on her face when she wandered back inside, as Kuri looked up in concern, 'Are you okay Serena?'

'Fine...' and when she realised she sounded a bit vague she shook herself out and smiled, 'It's nothing much, tutoring got cancelled that's all, oh well got a family dinner tonight anyway, might be able to talk mum into letting me buy a new dress or something for it.'

'That sounds cool,' Kuri smiled, 'I say aim for something in maybe dark blue?'

'Ooh that'd be nice!' Serena chirped, 'And maybe with a higher neckline, it would look all classy and sophisticated.'

'Now that I can see... So who do you reckon we'll have today? I mean after Miss Haruna collapsed yesterday I can't really see her coming into day- Oh hey Molly!'

Molly came in, beaming ear to ear, as Serena practically pounced on her in jealousy, 'I can't believe you got your letter read on The Love Line last night! You are _so_ lucky! I can't believe you can make things up like that, it was so romantic, whoever that dreamboat you made up was, set him up on a date with me-'

'Chill out Serena,' Molly giggled, 'it was just a bit of fun, what I want to know is what the prize they sent me is!'

'A prize!? What is it?!'

'I don't know, I knew you'd kill me if I opened it without you though,' she laughed joyously, her thick Brooklyn accent coming through despite the usual Japanese tone she tried to keep up.

At this moment Molly pulled out the small parcel wrapped in shiny striped paper, her eyes alight with joy, and Serena looked at it in surprise, 'That's it? Some prize, the thing is tiny.'

Molly merely beamed and sat down at her desk, 'Yeah, but so are a lot of expensive things.'

'True,' Serena beamed, sinking down onto her knees in front of the desk, wanting to see it all up close, 'Maybe it's something really pretty, or a gift card for an expensive store or.. I don't know! Just open it!'

Molly laughed at her pleads as a whole bunch of the other girls crowded around her as she opened the wrapping paper with exaggerated care, 'Hmm... I wonder what it could be.'

'You're torturing us Mol,' Kuri, 'just open it!'

Molly's face lit up in an innocent grin, before she pulled away the last part of sticky tape, and tipped the contents into her hand, positively glowing as she saw what was in her hand. It was a large, purple brooch, made out of such a realistic fabric it looked and felt like the real thing. There was a base of teal leaves, where a pin was placed for Molly to wear it, and the nectar stalks were painted in a vibrant gold. It shimmered and shone despite the dodgy classroom lights and all the girls squealed and smiled, it was really quite pretty.

'That is so gorgeous,' Molly breathed, instantly fastening it to her collar despite the schools rather strict policy against jewellery.

'I dunno...' Serena said, having a bad feeling about it for some reason, before suddenly blabbing, 'Isn't that the exact same brooch that Miss Haruna was wearing yesterday?'

'Yeah it is! Maybe Miss Haruna entered the competition as well?' Yumiko exclaimed.

'Must have, she must have been hopeful Haruna after all,' Kuri was giggling, 'Clearly she can't handle pushing sixty and not having a man.'

'Okay, she's not even thirty,' Serena remedied, 'She passed out yesterday, she may be sick, just try to cut her some slack.'

'Okay you hate her guts until the moment she's hurt, what kind of vendetta is that?' Kuri exclaimed, having always been the more opinionated and over the top in comparison to her twin Yumiko.

But that was when Molly keeled over, head hitting the desk hard before slipping over the gap between her desk and chair and collapsing on the floor. The girls all shrieked, and Serena darted to hold her friend up, the clear fretting all too clear, as she gently slapped her friends face, trying to get a response.

'Molly! Molly! Come on, what's the matter with you?' she panicked but suddenly she started to feel weak, 'come on Molly, what's wrong with-'

And in that moment Serena collapsed, falling backwards, knocking against the table behind her, completely passed out. She didn't hear the shouts of concern from her friends. She didn't feel the others shaking her and Molly forcefully trying to wake her up. She didn't hear Yumiko screaming for help or Kuri calling the ambulance in a panic. She didn't even see Melvin getting shoved away for offering to give her CPR. She didn't hear any of it. She was thoroughly unconscious.

…

Mina and Lyra had been essentially joint at the hip all day, barely paying attention in classes, constantly talking, gaining stares and glares from students and teachers alike. Toby was yet to think of any sort of rebuttal for what Mina had flung at him this morning and was reciprocating as immaturely as possible by leering at them, muttering insults under his breath and whispering to his friends. Rose was far from happy with his behaviour, seeing as he was so busy being annoyed at Lyra and Mina, he was completely ignoring her, and even when she tried hanging off him like a second skin, he barely paid attention to her.

But despite the usual problem of having to listen to teachers who knew less than her, students who hated her and even more glares than usual, Lyra seemed to be finding today a million times more enjoyable than any of the last one hundred. And now, even hours later she couldn't wipe the humongous grin off her face. School was over, and now she and Mina sat in the crown, still babbling uncontrollably about every little thing, everything seemed better with her best friend around.

'I can't believe I'm actually teaching martial arts tomorrow, I hate teachers, and now I'm becoming one!' she laughed to Mina about their newest topic of conversation.

'Instructor technically,' Mina giggled, 'and what _I_ can't believe is that you broke your instructor's leg!'

Lyra gave Mina a very blank look before saying, 'That's what you can't believe?'

'...Okay I can believe that bit. The bit I don't believe is that you could do it accidentally. Attempting to? For sure, without meaning to is the bit that shocks me,' Mina clarified.

'Oh shut up!'

'This is what you get for making fun of my culinary skills!' Mina declared victoriously, having been trying to find something for vengeance all day.

'Problem with that is I was taking a crack at your lack of skill, you underestimated the sheer amount of skill that I encompass!' Lyra declared dramatically.

'Just because I wasn't born perfect does not give you the right to be mean to me!' a phrase that would have sounded hurt in any other tone than the one that Mina said it in.

'Are you ladies going to order or brawl?'

Lyra looked up to see Andrew standing there with his notepad in hand and his apron tied lopsided as he beamed at the, pretending to be innocent, 'Andrew, this is my friend Mina, although judging by the amount of plotting you've no doubt been an accomplice to, I'm sure you already knew that.'

'Plotting? Me? The nerve!' Andrew insisted innocently.

'I already spilled about you helping me surprise Lyra today Andrew,' Mina admitted, beaming up at him cheekily.

'Oh come on-'

'Mina doesn't lie to me, at least she doesn't get away with it,' Lyra told him quite smugly, 'She knows how nosy I am, she knows it doesn't matter what secret she's trying to keep from me. I'm going to find out.'

'You sure you got a firm stead on me Lyra?' Mina questioned, arching an eyebrow with an analysing look.

Lyra merely gave her a look in response, she knew Mina was probably slightly proud that she'd managed to lie to her so successfully about what she was doing when she was out being Sailor V so many times, 'Oh please Mina, I know exactly when you're lying to me, and if you don't think I know about something it's because you don't realise I already know... And for the record the phrase is a firm read, not stead.'

Mina pulled a face and threw up her hands dramatically into the air, stating in a ridiculous semi-Russian accent, 'Is what I say!'

Lyra managed a straight face before cracking up laughing and Andrew's grin only widened, he hadn't caught the joke, but he just loved seeing Lyra so happy, once she and Mina had calmed down Lyra managed to ask, 'So how's the renovations going?'

'Fairly well, think it should be done early next week,' Andrew explained, smiling slightly.

'Renovations? I don't see any workers... or reconstruction,' Mina said, clearly confused.

'See that door there,' Lyra gestured.

Mina turned her head to see a dramatically curtained and roped off door at the back of the building, she blew a strand of her hair out of her eyes, squinting to read the sign at such a distance before suddenly whipping around joyfully, 'Wait, you're putting in laser tag?'

'Yup,' Andrew said proudly, 'Three floors, ramps, walls, hidden dens and doors, it cost my folks a lot of money, but it's going to be worth it in the end. Thanks to some design work that Lizzie came up with and Darien managing to explain to her what is and isn't realistic, it's going to be the best in Tokyo.'

'I _love_ laser tag!' Mina exclaimed, 'me and my friends in England played it all the time! We'd been to every game place in London, it was our mission to see them all, and unfortunately the best one was on the _other_ side of the city... Do I have to wait till next week for it to be open?'

'God your obsessed,' Lyra chided, 'don't worry if Andrew doesn't let us be part of the first game I'll tie him up and shut him in a closet.'

'That's bull, I'd get out-'

'Not with the way I'd tie you up, and you know that Darien wouldn't help you, you'd have to leave it to your adoring pre-teen minions and they wouldn't be able to get the gaffe tape off your mouth without ripping away that moustache you're trying to grow.'

'I'm not trying to grow a-'

'Then by god you need to shave!' Lyra announced, 'I'll get the gaffe-'

'Duct tape is one thing, gaffe is just evil!' Andrew announced, starting to walk away.

'Bring me back something chocolate!' Mina yelled after him, laughing as she sank down into the booth, 'what time is it?'

'Half past four I think.'

'Hm, I've still got a while, got a family dinner tonight,' Mina shrugged, 'Going out for dinner with my aunt and uncle, I just hope it goes better than the last one.'

'What do you mean?' Lyra questioned.

'Oh just that my little cousin is a little shit, his sister's fine but he is just such a brat,' Mina shrugged, 'I haven't seen them in ages though, maybe he's finally grown up slightly.'

'How old is he?'

'…Maybe thirteen? I'm not overly sure,' Mina guessed.

'Then you're out of luck, in my experience boys don't sort themselves out until their about twenty and they have to deal with the shock of the real world first,' Lyra commented.

'I thought Darien only turned twenty a few months ago,' Mina giggled.

'It's Darien. He got the real world shock at a young age,' Lyra reminded making Mina blanch slightly realising she'd probably been a bit insensitive, 'Relax Mina; Darien's a special case, that's all.'

Mina gave her friend a weak half smile; she knew she was one of the few people who knew even a fragment of Darien and Lyra's unfortunate pasts, 'I shouldn't have said anything, I really don't want to bring down this day. It's supposed to be all smiles and-'

'Seriously Mina, it's okay-'

'Mina?' came another voice, sounding extremely stunned.

Mina looked around before her entire face lit up and she ran to embrace who'd spoke, bowling them over in a hug, and shielding them from Lyra's view, until they eventually separated and Lyra was surprised to see, 'Serena… whoa, whoa, whoa, how do you two know each other… actually scratch that, how did I not see it?'

Mina and Serena both looked at Lyra, shrugging innocently, but she just gaped at them. They had essentially the same colour hair, with Serena's only being a smidge lighter. Although they wore it differently and had slightly different fringes, their long blonde locks fell the same way, essentially straight with a few little waves and inks to it. Their eyes were the same size and shape even if they were different blues. And despite the differences in their heights they had similar body types, same skin tone and similar facial features. How she had not noticed the extreme similarities before was just far too confusing for Lyra to comprehend.

'…You two are related... aren't you?

'Serena's my cousin,' Mina shrugged, '…Wait a second… she's the girl you're tutoring?'

'…Yeah… Oh shit, sorry Serena! I totally spaced and-'Lyra exclaimed realising she'd blanked on their tutoring session this afternoon.

'It's okay, Darien called me this morning and told me you would probably forget, it's no big deal,' Serena smiled lightly, 'besides, probably wouldn't have one much good, I'd be too worried about Molly, she's in hospital.'

'Molly? Oh my god, is she okay?' Mina asked in concern, having known Molly for just as long as Serena had even if they'd never been quite as close.

'They don't know what's wrong with her; she passed out at school today and well… I went with her. I was up in half an hour but Molly's just not waking up, I don't know what happened and-' Serena started to tear up, and turned away but Mina went into instantaneous comfort mode, pulled her into the booth and started to hug her, stroking her hair and murmuring reassurances to her.

Lyra had no idea what to do quite frankly, so she called out, 'Andrew, chocolate, stat!'

Andrew was back very quickly with one of the overlarge chocolate muffins, 'What's wrong with Serena? Are you okay?' he questioned, kneeling down beside her, gripping her hand in comfort.

'Wow… is there some blonde people can comfort anything gene that I missed out on?' Lyra asked the air in front of her, feeling essentially useless in this situation, reality checks were her speciality, comforting… well that was a different matter.

Eventually Serena calmed down, her concern for her best friend all too apparent, she knew that Serena would prefer she be the one in the hospital rather than Molly, she just didn't know what to do, 'Andrew, I'm fine, really, just go back to work,' she said shortly, pushing him away gently.

'If you're sure,' he said, clearly hesitating, but he walked back to the impatient customers.

Serena looked up noticing the concern on Lyra and Mina's faces, 'Sorry, I didn't mean to ruin your day, I know that it must be-'

'Its okay sweetie,' Lyra assured, but she felt like she just had to ask, 'What was happening just before she passed out?'

'We were looking at the brooch she'd won from the radio contest, next thing we know she's on the ground and the moment I got closer I was out of it,' Serena shrugged.

'Radio contest?' Mina asked excitedly.

'Love line, it's the really sweet show where they read out love letters, and not only can you get it read live on air they give you something for having the best one,' Serena shrugged, seeming slightly less upset and more dreamlike at the moment.

Lyra frowned to herself, noting the instant swoon both Mina and Serena had gone to at the thought. She frowned, it just sounded slightly fishy to her, she knew that the Negaverse targeted things that the typical teenage girl would invest in. Love letter reading? People passing out after getting the prizes? It screamed Negaverse activity to Lyra even if Mina hadn't noticed it.

But as Serena babbled, filling Mina in on all the details of Love Line, Lyra started to realise why Mina just wouldn't notice it quite yet. Mina hadn't had to fight as Sailor V for six months, and chances were she didn't know that the Negaverse was back, she wasn't looking for their next target, she wasn't looking for hints that they might be back. The Dark Agency branch that Mina had fought in England, had also dealt more heavily with hypnosis and delusion, distributing idols across the country to catch everyone's attention. The Negaverse was certainly being more discreet and targeted, and if it hadn't been for Lyra noticing the change of pattern from the jewellery store attack, this wouldn't seem suspicious at all.

How could she clue Serena in that Love Line might be dangerous, she couldn't tell her she was involved in turning her into Sailor Moon. She couldn't say it to her face; she had to be way more discreet. But a bigger question was how she could do that without cluing in Mina. It wasn't that she wanted Serena to face this alone, or more accurately just with the inexperienced and delusional Darien for protection; no that wasn't it at all. It was more so that she didn't want Mina to give up any more than she already had, and she didn't want to see Mina lie straight to her face again.

So her task of being the only one, who knew what was going on, wasn't as simple as it had seemed. She woke them up; she had to deal with the consequences. She was going to do whatever she could to help them, and whatever was necessary to keep their planet at peace. But what she had to do to get that done? She just didn't know.

'Earth to Lyra,' laughed a voice and instantly she snapped out of her trance like state of thought, looking around to Mina who was beaming at her, 'What planet did you just zoom off to?'

'Just spending some time with my alien ancestors,' Lyra smiled, turning her attention back to the two beaming blondes on the other side of the booth.

'Well we're here right now, so tell them to leave you alone for the afternoon,' Mina grinned cheekily.

Serena and Mina both laughed, the sounds near identical which made Lyra only notice the similarity between them that much more. It was so strange that she'd actually befriended Serena with no idea of her connection to Mina. Maybe she'd been looking for a friend after all, rather than just someone to fight the Negaverse. Smiling to herself she rejoined the conversation, pushing thoughts of the Negaverse into the back of her mind. She had a new friend in Serena; Mina was back in the country and ready to tear Toby down if he dared speak again, Darien, Andrew and Lizzie were all there for her. Life seemed to be getting pretty good. And for once, she was going to let herself enjoy that.

* * *

**Lyra's life seems to be getting better for once, but with the chaos that always seems to be chasing her, how long can we be sure it'll stay that way? Mina seems to have had less trouble settling in than she expected, and Darien is looking out for his little sister more than ever. But Serena seems to be encountering a few little problems, now that her best friend has been targeted for a second time. And why is Raye dreaming of Jadeite long before she has even met him or become involved with the Sailor Scouts? The truth shall only be revealed in the chapters to become, so stay tuned.**

**I'd like to thank Love In The Battlefield for their review, I'm glad you keep enjoying this. As well as Allison Shorecoat for hers, your review made me smile so much when I received it, and every time I go back to read it. I'd also like to thank Happy-the-Nekomander for their favourite, and Abeytu who's now following this story. Thank you so much all of you, and also a great thanks to the readers as well who although aren't interacting to the same extent, it still makes me happy to see the view count go up.**

**So what shall happen next as the story of Dawnlight progresses?**

**Read, Review, Follow, Favourite to find out. Don't forget to tip your authors.**

**xxo**

**Princess Selina**


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